Man who 'liked killing' murdered teenager Leonne Weeks 'for no reason at all'

A man who stabbed a 16-year-old girl 28 times before dumping her body under an old sofa murdered her because he "liked killing", a court has been told.

Shea Peter Heeley deliberately befriended Leonne Weeks and then lured her to a secluded spot where he killed her in a "brutally violent" attack, a judge told Sheffield Crown Court.

Heeley, now 19, was told he may never be released from prison by Judge Paul Watson QC, who said it was a "pre-planned, brutal and pitiless killing of an innocent young girl who had her whole life before her."

Judge Watson jailed him for life and ordered that he serve a minimum term of 24-and-a-half years, adding: "If you continue to pose a danger to the public, it may very well be that you will never be released."

He told Heeley that the family of a "lovely, lively, funny and caring young girl" will now have to live with the "living nightmare of your evil crime".

Alan Kent QC, defending, said his client told staff at Rampton top security mental hospital: "I like that I have done it, I just do. I like killing."

Mr Kent said Heeley told prison staff: "Knowing I have killed someone satisfied me."

He said his client claimed he had fantasies about killing and "hitting people on the head with hammers", which "cheered him up".

Tim Roberts QC, prosecuting, told the judge that Heeley attacked the teenager "for no reason at all" other than his obsession with murder and killing.

Mr Roberts said Heeley told a nurse in custody "he had always known that he would kill someone from an early age".

He said the defendant said: "I'll go to prison or hospital, but probably prison. If that's what it takes to stop me killing people, that's where I need to go."

Mr Roberts said Heeley, who also admitted killing animals, told medical staff how he could hear Leonne's screams and how "he heard voices telling him to kill her and he had demons inside him."

The court heard that Heeley was not suffering from a mental illness but may have an emerging personality disorder.

Six months before the murder, Heeley had been referred to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) after he rang police to say he was out carrying a machete and feared he would hurt someone.

He was assessed by psychiatrists a month before the murder and their report - which concluded that he had no mental illness - was still being typed up when he attacked Leonne.

He told friends that he was a psychopath but they just thought he was just "bigging himself up".

Prosecutors said that when friends gathered in grief after Leonne's death, Heeley was "laughing and joking in a callous and offensive way".

In a statement read to the court, Leonne's father, Darran Weeks, said; "Leonne was taken away from me by the evil act of a cold-hearted killer."

Mr Weeks said: "She was full of life. She had such a caring nature and was loved by everyone around her."

Speaking outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Martin Tate said: "I don't think we'll ever really understand why he (Heeley) is so dangerous, what he is thinking and why anyone would seek to do this."

The court heard that Heeley had confessed to six other murders, including one committed before he was born, but these are all thought to be fantasies.

Mr Tate said he did not believe he was responsible for other killings.

Heeley, of Doe Quarry Lane, Dinnington, admitted murder last month.

He sat in the dock surrounded by seven guards and, as he was led from court, someone in the packed public gallery shouted: "Do us all a favour and hang yourself."