Mum knifed 22 times after she met killer in pub

A MILITARY mountain rescue expert was murdered on a one-night stand just hours after meeting a new lover in a pub.

Mum-of-two Sarah Hassall, 38, was stabbed 22 times by Brian Manship after he took her home for sex. A court heard Manship, 37, woke after sex to find former RAF and Army rescue expert Sarah going through the drawers in his bedroom cabinet looking for cocaine.

Manship flew into a rage and began attacking Sarah as she pleaded for mercy.

Neighbours called police after hearing terrifying screams coming from the one-bedroom flat. Officers found Sarah’s body wrapped in a curtain but Manship had fled from a first-floor window to hide in countryside near the home in Pontypridd, South Wales.

Sarah had previously served with both the RAF and the Royal Engineers for 14 years.

But she left the forces after failing a drugs test and later separated from her husband.

Prosecutor Andrew Jones said: “This was a savage, sustained and merciless attack.”

Peter Rouch QC, defending at Swansea crown court described the murder as a “frenzied night terror”. Manship admitted murder and was jailed for life. He was told he must serve a minimum of 20 years.

Judge Keith Thomas said Sarah’s killing was “a tragic and senseless loss of life”.

Chief Insp Mark O’Shea, of South Wales Police, said: “Sarah was a much loved wife, daughter and sister. She was lured to Manship’s flat and killed in the most dreadful way.

“The investigation and court proceedings have shown Manship to be a self-serving individual who is a danger to society.

“She was brutally murdered by him in an unprovoked and inexplicable attack.”