Cathy Marlow, 28, was strangled with a scarf her mother had knitted for her after coming in on a Saturday to catch up with work following a holiday.
Cathy Marlow, 28, was strangled with a scarf her mother had knitted for her after coming in on a Saturday to catch up with work following a holiday.
Matthew Fagan, who was bankrupt and desperate for money after being dismissed nine months before, beat her over the head with a blunt object before killing her.
Richard Whittam QC, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey: "It was her diligence going to work on that Saturday that cost Cathy Marlow her life." Fagan, 33, a married American of Gaywood Street, Bermondsey, south east London, was told he must serve a minimum of 26 years. He was found guilty of murder by the unanimous verdict of an Old Bailey jury after just four and a half hours of deliberation. The court heard that Miss Marlow, a New Zealander from the Hawkes Bay area, struggled against him as she was strangled in January last year. Judge Brian Barker, the Common Serjeant of London, told Fagan: "Against a man of your size and strength she would have stood no chance." Members of Miss Marlow's family, who travelled from New Zealand to be in court, wept as Fagan was jailed. Jurors were also in tears as her brother Brendan, sobbing, read out an emotional victim impact statement on behalf of their father.
He told how the victim's mother, Claire, lost her battle with cancer just months after hearing of her daughter's violent death, and added: "The man who carried out this crime is as cruel as he is callous." Miss Marlow, a finance manager, was dumped in an office shower cubicle where horrified friends concerned about her whereabouts discovered her hours later. Fagan killed her when she caught him coming back to the offices of Research Now in Stockwell, south London, to steal six Dell laptops which he planned to sell for £300 each. The former web production manager, who worked on the next set of desks to her, had been sacked from the market research company for incompetence. In court, Fagan admitted struggling with Miss Marlow, and claimed he helped an accomplice tie her up but left her still alive and with the other man, but jurors rejected his story. The victim's father Bernie, stepmother Olivia, brother Brendan and sister Debbie were all in court to see him convicted. Fagan, who had lived in Washington and Canada before coming to Britain in 2000, was caught quickly through a lucky match to the police DNA database. In November 2005 a diligent officer took a swab from him when he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly even though at that time samples were not routinely taken for such minor offences.
Following the murder 14 months later detectives were able to match his profile to DNA found under Miss Marlow's fingernails.
Matthew Fagan, who was bankrupt and desperate for money after being dismissed nine months before, beat her over the head with a blunt object before killing her.
Richard Whittam QC, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey: "It was her diligence going to work on that Saturday that cost Cathy Marlow her life." Fagan, 33, a married American of Gaywood Street, Bermondsey, south east London, was told he must serve a minimum of 26 years. He was found guilty of murder by the unanimous verdict of an Old Bailey jury after just four and a half hours of deliberation. The court heard that Miss Marlow, a New Zealander from the Hawkes Bay area, struggled against him as she was strangled in January last year. Judge Brian Barker, the Common Serjeant of London, told Fagan: "Against a man of your size and strength she would have stood no chance." Members of Miss Marlow's family, who travelled from New Zealand to be in court, wept as Fagan was jailed. Jurors were also in tears as her brother Brendan, sobbing, read out an emotional victim impact statement on behalf of their father.
He told how the victim's mother, Claire, lost her battle with cancer just months after hearing of her daughter's violent death, and added: "The man who carried out this crime is as cruel as he is callous." Miss Marlow, a finance manager, was dumped in an office shower cubicle where horrified friends concerned about her whereabouts discovered her hours later. Fagan killed her when she caught him coming back to the offices of Research Now in Stockwell, south London, to steal six Dell laptops which he planned to sell for £300 each. The former web production manager, who worked on the next set of desks to her, had been sacked from the market research company for incompetence. In court, Fagan admitted struggling with Miss Marlow, and claimed he helped an accomplice tie her up but left her still alive and with the other man, but jurors rejected his story. The victim's father Bernie, stepmother Olivia, brother Brendan and sister Debbie were all in court to see him convicted. Fagan, who had lived in Washington and Canada before coming to Britain in 2000, was caught quickly through a lucky match to the police DNA database. In November 2005 a diligent officer took a swab from him when he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly even though at that time samples were not routinely taken for such minor offences.
Following the murder 14 months later detectives were able to match his profile to DNA found under Miss Marlow's fingernails.
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