Child killer jailed for life

GRAHAM SATE was sentenced to life at Norwich Crown Court yesterday for the murder of five-year-old Lauren Creed.

Sate, 25, was described by the judge, Mr Justice Newman, as a dangerous man who "did not hesitate to resort to violence". The judge recommended that Sate serve at least 25 years. Lauren's mother, Sharon, 25, was sentenced to a total of five years in prison on two charges of child cruelty.

Sate, who lived with Sharon Creed, was convicted of murder and cruelty by a jury on Wednesday after a five-day trial. He had punched, kicked or stamped on Lauren so hard that her liver split in two.

The little girl also had 167 fresh bruises and abrasions on her body when examined by a pathologist after her death at her home at RAF Coltishall, Norfolk, in October last year.

After delivering unanimous verdicts, jurors learnt that Sate had a history of savage violence. He was jailed for seven years in 1993 after stabbing a woman taxi-driver six times in a late-night attack in Grimsby and was given a further 15-month sentence, in 1995, for causing grievous bodily harm by throwing scalding water over a fellow prisoner.

Sate killed Lauren less than a year after being released from prison, two-thirds of the way through his sentence.

It is the second time in less than six months that social workers and police in Norfolk have been under the spotlight after the murder of a child.

In July, a former prostitute, Helen Stacey, 46, a registeredchildminder, was jailed for life after being convicted of murdering a baby in her care.

The Tory health and social services spokesman, Philip Hammond, yesterday wrote to the Secretary of State for Health, demanding an inquiry into social services' handling of the Lauren Creed case. Mr Hammond said it highlighted "yet another serious lapse in the operations of a social services department".

He added: "Such a tragedy must not happen again and I am demanding that those responsible are held to account."