Trooper who throttled vice lover jailed for life

Trooper who throttled vice lover jailed for life

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By Staff Reporter

A ZIMBABWEAN man serving in the British army has been jailed for life after a jury found him guilty of the murder of his girlfriend whom he had just found out was a prostitute.

A jury at the Winchester Crown Court convicted Royal Guardsman George Tayali of murder, although he had pleaded to manslaughter on grounds of traumatic stress disorder following a recent posting to war-torn Iraq.

Sentencing Tuesday, Mr Mr Justice Cresswell said Tayali had committed a "cruel and callous" murder.

He must serve at least 14 years.

Tayali, 28, strangled Sandra Wiles, 19, at her flat in Poole Quay, Poole, Dorset, on 2 February last year after discovering she was a hooker at a brothel.

He left a note for the police saying: "Police, in my defence, I found out my girlfriend is a prostitute so I killed both of us."

Police believe he intended to kill himself too.

A defence psychiatrist confirmed Tayali had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq in 2004 but the prosecution maintained he was not suffering from mental illness at the time of the killing.

In the days before her death, Tayali had discovered that Wiles and her flatmate Thuli Maphosa had answered an advertisement for escorts and visited a brothel, with Wiles picking up men for sex.

He had sent a friend to the brothel with £100 to have sex with Wiles and to find out the truth, the court was told.

Nigel Seed QC, prosecuting, said Tayali was very angry when he found out about his girlfriend's work.

The court heard Maphosa had found the naked body of her flatmate lying on a duvet in the lounge of their flat after she came home from work.

Police later tracked down Tayali's car to Heathrow airport and he was arrested the following day after boarding a plane bound for Zimbabwe.

In court, Tayali said on the fateful day, she had confronted Wiles about her escort job and she had agreed to give it up, but later started shouting.

He said: "I then put my hands around her neck and I was shouting `Please keep quiet, quiet, quiet' and shaking her. When I let go she just slumped forward towards me."

He said she was still breathing when he left the room, that he had not meant to kill her but wanted to kill himself.

"My work was going downhill but at least I knew I had Sandra and she was keeping me going," he said.

"When I found out what I found out, everything was just collapsing in front of me. That's why I wanted to take my life."
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