Gay Star News reports that a British sex offender who murdered a gay student will spend the rest of his life in prison.
31-year-old Richard Danter pleaded guilty to the murder of 20-year-old Billy Mankelow, described as a “sustained and brutal” act of violence.
Danter kicked and stomped Mankelow over 20 times and left him horribly injured beneath a railway arch.
Danter and Mankelow, a student at the University of Leeds, had met at a gay bar called The Viaduct earlier that evening. The two men left the bar to have sex, which is when Danter attacked Mankelow, later returning to the bar to get another drink.
Afterwards, he returned to the scene of the crime, hiding the severely injured body in a hard-to-see corner.
He stole Mankelow’s phone and passports in the hopes that people wouldn’t be able to identify him.
When two passerby found Mankelow, he was half naked and his head was bleeding quite heavily. The young man died later that day in Leeds General Infirmary.
Of the crime, judge Peter Collier told Danter, “You subjected him to an unspeakable degree of violence. I do not accept that you did not know he was still alive. You abandoned him there under those Dark Arches. You went back, you bent down to move him. Others who found him subsequently had no difficulty in immediately realizing that he was still alive.”
Mankelow’s family released a statement, which reads:
“Billy loved life and had lots of friends. He was independent and motivated and went to study at Leeds University. Billy loved Leeds, a place where he made a life for himself and had lots of friends.”
“Billy’s family and friends are all distraught at the way Billy died; which was so senseless and unnecessary. Billy was simply out with friends having a good time with his life ahead of him.”
