Babysitter's Killer Sentenced To Life In Jail

Tony Bushby left his girlfriend stabbed to death in the house where she was looking after two toddlers.

Tony Bushby will spend a minimum of 25 years in prison

A teenager who stabbed his girlfriend to death on Boxing Day as she was babysitting two young children has been jailed for life, with a minimum term of 25 years.

Tony Bushby, 19, murdered art student Catherine Wynter, also 19, known as Katy, and left her slumped against the fridge in the kitchen of her sister's home.

A post-mortem examination showed she had 23 separate wounds on her body and 13 serious stab injuries - some to hands as she had tried to shield herself from the attack.

After the attack, Bushby, of Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, went to his nearby home with blood on his clothes and hands.

He left Miss Wynter’s body in the house with the youngsters until she was found in a pool of blood by her mother, Joy Davis.

The children, aged three and four at the time, ran down the stairs as Ms Davis arrived and told her: "Grandma, Grandma, Katy's dead."

The pair met at West Hertfordshire College and often communicated on Facebook.

Bushby, who was convicted at St Albans Crown Court, blamed the murder on one of four friends on the social networking site.

But detectives discovered he invented the profiles to fool Miss Wynter in a "malicious web of deception".

Catherine Wynter was stabbed to death on Boxing Day

He used the bogus profiles to send the victim flattering messages about himself and to make it appear she was communicating directly with his friends.

Miss Wynter's family described her as "one in a million" and Bushby as "pure evil".

In a statement they said: "Katie had so many friends and everyone who knew her knew just how wonderful and unique she was.

"There aren't enough words to describe what she meant to us and what kind of person she was but she was bright, bubbly, talented and intelligent.

"She was one in a million and is irreplaceable."

The Crown Prosecution Service praised "the strength and courage of Katie's family who sat through the trial and listened to the horrific details".

Sky News