Judge Andrew Patience, QC, told Philip Bell, the man jailed for life for the horrific murder of Tunbridge Wells teenager Terry Edmonds, he had been convicted on clear evidence.

Bell stood in the dock at Maidstone Crown Court, flanked by three prison officers, and showed no emotion as sentence was passed.

Judge Patience said: "By the cruellest of misfortunes, she happened to emerge from the door of the railway station at Tunbridge Wells just as you were coming down the steps from Tunnel Walk.

"Somehow, and only you know how, you lured her to the stairwell in that car park where you lived. Once there, you subjected her to a horrifying sexual attack. You smothered her, you strangled her.

"Her hopes and dreams can never be fulfilled because of your foul act of murder."

Judge Patience said an impact statement read to the court by Terry’s mother Helen was heart-rending.

He said: "Nothing I or anyone else can say or do will bring Terry back, or lessen the grief or anguish, the emptiness and despair you have inflicted upon her mother and family."

~ Read mum Helen Edmonds' emotion-charged statement in full >>>

An earlier attack by Bell on a 15-year-old girl in the same stairwell was a "chilling forerunner" to what happened to Terry.

"This has led me to the conclusion that you present a danger to young women to whom you have a sexual fancy," he said.

Aggravating features towards the sentence were it was an attack on a stranger, the victim was vulnerable and her body was concealed.

Bell looked straight ahead as the judge told him: "For the murder of Terry Edmonds I sentence you to life imprisonment. I order the minimum period you must spend in custody before you become eligible for consideration for release on parole be one of 28 years."

Just over two-and-a-half years spent on remand will count towards the term.

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