‘I hope you rot in hell’ – ‘evil’ Worksop man jailed for screwdriver murder of young mum

David Jackson, 68, inflicted 199 separate injuries "of varying severity" to 27-year-old Mckyla Taylor, in his bedroom on August 15 last year, Nottingham Crown Court was told.

Sentencing him to life, with a minimum term of 17 years, Judge John Sampson told him it must have been a “terrifying and painful ordeal” which left her face mutilated and her blood-caked body “in an undignified state”.

Jackson didn't enter a guilty plea until the defence of diminshed responsibilty was closed to him.

Psychiatrists found no evidence of mental illness and he has given no indication of remorse.

“The life you extinguished in this act of senseless brutality was that of a beautiful, vibrant and happy young woman who longed to be a mother, but whose child will never see her and whose family you have left devastated and bereft,” the judge told him on Thursday.

"The only reason she was with you was because she needed money for crack cocaine,” he said.

As he was led down, a member of Mckyla’s family shouted: “I hope you rot in hell David Jackson.”

"She attempted in vain to fend off his onslaught," prosecutor Gordon Apsden told the court on Wednesday. "She was literally fighting for her life. It must have been a painful and terrifying ordeal."

The fatal blow penetrated the bone in her midface and punctured the brain.

Jackson cut the straps on her top and the front of her bra, before pulling a duvet over her blood-caked body and leaving his flat “in a daze" for hours.

"Although this was a particularly savage murder there is insufficient evidence to conclude it involved a sexual or sadistic conduct," Mr Apsden added.

At the time of Mcklya’s murder, Jackson was on bail for assaulting her, on March 22, when she was seven-months pregnant.

Her partner told police Jackson would become aggressive after using crack-cocaine and vowed: “I am not going to jail, I will kill her (Mcklya) and myself first.

"If I can’t kill her, I will kill you to get to her.”

The court heard he has previous convictions for sex offences dating back to the 1970s.

Mary Prior, mitigating, said Jackson spent a £190,000 inheritance from his mother to buy "company on an almost daily basis".

He became addicted to class A drugs at the age of 60, but, by August 2022, was reliant on benefits and was “socially isolated”.

Judge Sampson called crack cocaine a “pernicious drug which blights lives and destroys families and communities.”

Sentencing was delayed on Wednesday and Thursday because the defendant was late in being brought to court from prison by GEOAmey.

The judge said this was “enormously disrespectful to the family of the deceased, bordering on contempt, after yesterday’s fiasco.”

Speaking after the hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Clare Dean, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Mckyla was a young woman who was loved and adored by her family and many friends.

“Her life was taken away from her in the most brutal fashion by David Jackson, who has shown very little remorse and would not give any account in interview.

“Detectives carried out a meticulous investigation, with many officers working around the clock to gather the evidence against him. He continued to deny murdering Mckyla until shortly before a trial was about to begin – inflicting further pain and anxiety on her loved ones.

“The attack Jackson inflicted on Mckyla was relentless, causing catastrophic injuries which ultimately led to her death.

“He has taken away a loving and caring mum, daughter, sister, and friend.

“Today’s sentence will not bring Mckyla back, but it does mean that Jackson will spend a considerable part of his life behind bars, and I hope this gives her family some comfort.”