A murderer who inflicted 60 knife wounds in a savage attack on a resident in the sheltered accommodation complex has been jailed for life.

Stephen Patrick Ansbro inflicted 59 slash wounds and one stab wound with a bread knife on Jane Collinson who desperately struggled to resist the attack as she sat on a chair.

He then stabbed her in the face during a terrifying ordeal in her one-bedroom flat at Dunelm Court, Barnard Castle, on March 3 this year.

Read more: Watch cctv of Barnard Castle killer's movements outside victim's flat

Newcastle Crown Court heard that Ansbro also punched his victim and possibly tried to use a ligature during the ordeal, at some stage during more than seven hours in his victim’s flat that day.

But on leaving, he placed the knife in the sink and managed to lock the door from the outside, having inflicted superficial slash wounds to his own neck to try to make it appear as if Ms Collinson had attacked him and then taken her own life.

The Northern Echo: Stephen Patrick Ansbro Stephen Patrick Ansbro (Image: Durham Police)

Read more: Man charged with murder following death of woman in Barnard Castle

It was only when the victim’s concerned partner and son-in-law forced their way into the flat the following day that they discovered the heavily bloodstained body of the 59-year-old grandmother of nine.

The court heard she died from heavy blood loss due to the knife injuries but would have remained conscious for “tens of minutes” following the attack before passing out.

Sixty-year-old Ansbro, of Bowes Lyon House at Dunelm Court, was arrested and maintained the story that he had been attacked, but managed to get out of the flat, the account he gave to his own partner on getting back to the flat they shared.

Mark McKone, prosecuting, told the court that Ansbro had a grievance against Ms Collinson, who had complained about him to the management at the complex.

The court heard during his time at Dunelm Court, Ansbro had relationships with four different women, but not Ms Collinson, and apart from her complaint to management, she also wrote to the son of another resident, saying he was, “getting too close” to the man's mother.

Mr McKone said Ansbro somehow got wind of those complaints and told the daughter of his ex-partner that he did not like her (Ms Collinson) claiming he, “would do time for her” and, “would kill her as she got on his nerves”.

Read more: Stephen Ansbro accused of Jane Collinson murder in Barnard Castle

The court was told that although he used a wheelchair, which he used to go to and from Ms Collinson’s flat on the day of the killing, he was able to walk to an extent.

Ansbro, who initially denied a charge of murder, later changed his plea to guilty, but on a basis that Ms Collinson had attacked him first.

Prior to today’s (Monday August 7) scheduled trial of issue over the basis, he withdrew that account, paving the way for Judge Sloan to proceed to sentence.

He heard victim statements from the deceased's partner, two of Ms Collinson’s daughters and a son-in-law.

They each spoke of their grief at the loss of the much-loved mother and grandmother, who brought joy to the family with her outgoing nature, loving to organise parties and other events to celebrate with the family.

Ansbro’s plea to murder, at a hearing in May, was unable to be reported at the time, as he was also facing a trial at the court in June, for historic sexual offences involving an underage girl in the 1990s, plus an additional offence of child cruelty.

On the day of trial he admitted four counts of sexual assault and one of child cruelty.

Judge Sloan heard that Ansbro has previously served a six-year prison sentence, following a conviction in 1990.

Passing sentence for the murder, Judge Sloan told Ansbro: “This was a particularly brutal attack involving not just punches but repeated use of the knife or knives, inflicting 59 slash wounds and one stab wound, in her own home where she should have been safe.

“It’s clear she desperately resisted the attack and remained conscious for some time.

“The last moments of her life must have been terrifying and the mental and physical consequences excruciating.”

The judge imposed the mandatory life sentence, but with a minimum tariff of 18 years behind bars for the murder.

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He also added a sentence of four years and nine months for the sexual offences and the single count of child cruelty, but to be served consecutively to the life sentence.

It means it will be more than 20 years, at least, before Ansbro will be eligible to be considered for parole, by which time he will be into his 80s.

Judge Sloan also made Ansbro subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, indefinitely, and restraining orders, relating to the victims of the sexual offences and the child cruelty, also for life.