…Researched and contributed by Henry George for TDPel Media.
A court has heard that David Smith, a 66-year-old delivery driver, allegedly killed and mutilated two sex workers in separate incidents, the second of which occurred in 1991.
Smith is currently on trial for the murder of Sarah Crump, 33, who was found dead in her one-bedroom flat in Southall, West London on August 29, 1991.
The jury at the Inner London Crown Court heard that Smith developed “fascinations and obsessions” with some of the women he paid for sex, and he has a history of violent offending.
Smith raped a young mother at knifepoint in her own home in 1976 and tried to rape an escort just 10 days before Ms Crump’s murder.
Escalating Campaign of Violence
Prosecutor William Boyce KC stated that these crimes are part of an “escalating pattern of violent and sexual offending” that stretches back to Smith’s teenage years in the 1970s.
The court heard that Ms Crump was a secretary in the chiropody department in Wimbledon Hospital, South-West London, and had a previous career as a psychiatric nurse.
She worked “from time to time” as an escort.
Smith, who lived with his parents in Hampton, Middlesex, regularly used sex workers.
The “intensity” of these visits became more frequent in the period leading up to Ms Crump’s murder.
False Name
The prosecution alleged that Smith murdered Sarah Crump and that he had visited her flat on August 28 to use her services as an escort girl.
He used a false name, “Duncan”.
Smith was the last person known to be inside Ms Crump’s flat before she was discovered to be dead.
He was there as a paying visitor.
For such a visitor, she would have taken off her clothes and lain on the bed where she was found.
The court heard that Ms Crump’s naked body was found “brutally mutilated” with incisions similar to the surgical scars of a woman whom Smith had “become obsessed with” and “rejected his attentions”.
Highly Probative Evidence
Smith’s previous offending history, including the 1976 knifepoint rape, an attempted rape of an escort on August 18, 1991, and the murder of Amanda Walker, where her body suffered “substantial mutilation” after death, was put before the jury.
Mr. Boyce stated that “the murder of Ms Crump was one part in a timeline of escalating violent and sexual offending against women by the defendant, which stretched from his teenage years in the mid-1970s until his commission of the murder of another sex worker in 1999”.
The prosecution argued that the evidence of his prior offending history is highly probative of the prosecution’s case that Smith is responsible for the murder of Sarah Crump.
Smith denies a single charge of murder and the trial continues.
Commentary
The case of David Smith is a tragic example of the dangers faced by sex workers.
This vulnerable group, many of whom work in the industry due to limited economic opportunities, are often at risk of violence and exploitation.
The fact that Smith has a history of violent offending, including a previous conviction for rape, highlights the need for better safeguards to protect sex workers.
Many sex workers operate without the protection of the law, and this can leave them vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, and violence.
It is essential that society recognises the importance of protecting sex workers, and that steps are taken to ensure their safety and wellbeing.