Steven Craig has already served nearly 19 years in jail for setting fire to Jacqueline Kirk in 1998.
Image source, AVON AND SOMERSET POLICE/PA WIREA man has been given a life sentence for murdering his ex-partner, who died 21 years after he set her alight.
Jacqueline Kirk was badly disfigured after Steven Craig acted out a torture scene from Reservoir Dogs at their home in Weston-super-Mare in 1998.
Craig was found guilty of grievous bodily harm at the time and served almost 19 years in jail.
Ms Kirk died in 2019 from complications relating to the injuries she suffered, so Craig was then charged with murder.
In a landmark case, he must now spend a minimum of 15 years in prison on top of the 18 years and 11 months he has already served.
Craig, of Brailsford Crescent, York, had admitted the attack on Ms Kirk but denied being responsible for her death.
Sentencing the 59-year-old at Bristol Crown Court earlier, Mrs Justice Stacey said Craig “repeatedly” replayed the torture scene from the film – where a police officer is covered in petrol – “with a permanent grin” .
There was no doubt you planned a “gratuitous” and “deliberate” attack on the mother-of-two, she added.
“She was always in pain and suffered from depression and nightmares, and was suicidal at times.”
Ahead of sentencing, prosecutor Richard Smith KC read out statements from Ms Kirk which she gave to police at her trial in 2000.
She said that “nothing or no amount of counselling could prepare me or did prepare me” for the attack.
“I am now a very timid, shy and even embarrassed person,” she added.
“Why me? What I have I ever done to deserve this sentence on my life?”
“Life today is a constant struggle.”
Her son Shane said his mother was a “strong-minded person” when he was growing up but there were occasions when she had made some poor life choices.
She began to change after she started a relationship with Craig, he said.
Great dignity
She met him by chance and gave Craig shelter because he was homeless, but his influence led her to drug and drink problems that she had previously conquered, he said.
The court heard Ms Kirk was so disfigured that her daughter Sonna only recognised her by her feet when she first saw her in hospital.
In a statement Sonna said she “spent 21 years of feeling grateful and thankful for every extra day that I got to spend with my mum”.
“From the very beginning, when I was told that she would likely die, she managed to surprise everyone and came through so much.
“She was able to see me grow up into an adult, where I got married and then went on to have children, and so she became nanny Jackie.
“It has been three years since my mum died and during that time part of my life has been on hold because I haven’t had complete closure.
“I have also had to deal with the emotional trauma of going through a second trial, only this time my mum is no longer with me.”
Senior investigating officer Mark Almond said Ms Kirk “overcame numerous challenges with an incredible determination and fought with great dignity to rediscover the life she had before she was attacked”.
The Avon and Somerset Police Det Ch Insp added that Craig was “undoubtedly responsible for Jackie’s death and like all murderers, deserves to be severely punished”.
