A cocaine addict who murdered a debt collector ‘to fund a drugs purchase’ when she visited him to collect some money has been jailed for life.
Geoffrey Hutton, 38, killed 49-year-old Tina Cantello (pictured left) at his home in Langdon Hills, Essex, in June. She was stabbed 30 times in the unprovoked attack.
Although Hutton pleaded not guilty, forensic evidence and communications data analysis from our CSAS software, along with expert testimony regarding the defendant’s use of his mobile phone, helped to secure a conviction after a two-week trial.
Sentencing Hutton to a minimum term of 30 years at Snaresbrook Crown Court, judge Mrs Justice Whipple described the murder as a ‘terrible act of violence on a defenceless woman‘.
Det Ch Insp Martin Pasmore, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said Hutton was ‘an extremely dangerous individual’ and the length of his sentence ‘reflects not just the gravity of this case, but the sheer senselessness and brutality of Tina’s murder’.
Update: Geoffrey Hutton died in HMP Long Lartin on 8 February 2019.
