‘Pyscho’ Stapleton gets 30 years for killing Bidve
28 July 2012 9:47 AM GMT
An unrepentant Briton, who called himself ‘Psycho’ Stapleton was sentenced to a minimum 30 years in jail for the ‘truly wicked’ cold-blooded murder of 23-year-old Indian student Anuj Bidve that caused outrage in India and the UK on Friday.
Kiaran Stapleton, 21, on Friday entered the Manchester Crown Court smiling and beamed again towards a member of the Bidve family as he was led away after the sentencing.
The Briton, who was found guilty on Thursday of murdering Bidve on 26 December, has been jailed for a minimum of 30 years before being considered for parole, following a five-week trial.
Judge Timothy King told Stapleton, who showed no emotion: ‘Only then will you be released if you are deemed not to be a risk to the public.’
King added: ‘In my judgment, this was no impulsive act on your part. It was a piece of cold-blooded controlled aggression.’
He said Stapleton had showed a ‘most callous disregard’ in laughing and smirking after he gunned down Bidve and also during the trial.
‘You have behaved in a way demonstrating that you are positively boastful about having killed Bidve,’ he said.
The judge said Stapleton – who in his first court appearance told magistrates his name was ‘Psycho Stapleton’ – had committed a ‘truly wicked act’ and was a ‘highly dangerous man’ who posed a high risk of serious harm to other people.
Relieved and satisfied at the imprisonment of ‘Psycho Stapleton’, Bidve’s grieving parents said their ‘whole world was lost’ when he was killed on 26 December last.
Bidve’s Pune-based parents, Subhash and Yogini Bidve, sat through the five-week trial at the Manchester Crown Court every day, listening to evidence and watching the remorseless Stapleton at times mock the justice system.
Speaking after the sentencing, Subhash Bidve said: ‘It is very difficult without him, because he was such a lovely son,’ but was ‘relieved and satisfied’ with Stapleton’s conviction.
It was ‘very difficult’ to face Stapleton in court every day of the trial. It took almost five weeks – that is a long time sitting in the court, hearing how he killed him, what was going through his mind when he killed him and what his intentions were. It was very, very difficult every day, sitting and hoping that [Anuj] would get justice,’ he said. People convicted for murder in UK are usually eligible for parole after around 18 years.
Bidve had arrived in London last September and was studying postgraduate micro-electronics at a University in northwest London.
Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West Area, said: ‘Anuj Bidve’s murder in the early hours of Boxing Day last year was a terrible crime which shocked and appalled us all. It is all the more tragic because it was completely senseless.’
He said Anuj had his whole life ahead of him and was young and bright, a talented student enjoying his time at Lancaster University.
‘Kiaran Stapleton shot Anuj, an innocent and defenceless man, at close range without warning or provocation. It was a cowardly murder, and his reaction afterwards in trying to cover his tracks, hide from police and evade justice was also cowardly.’
Kiaran Stapleton, 21, on Friday entered the Manchester Crown Court smiling and beamed again towards a member of the Bidve family as he was led away after the sentencing.
The Briton, who was found guilty on Thursday of murdering Bidve on 26 December, has been jailed for a minimum of 30 years before being considered for parole, following a five-week trial.
Judge Timothy King told Stapleton, who showed no emotion: ‘Only then will you be released if you are deemed not to be a risk to the public.’
King added: ‘In my judgment, this was no impulsive act on your part. It was a piece of cold-blooded controlled aggression.’
He said Stapleton had showed a ‘most callous disregard’ in laughing and smirking after he gunned down Bidve and also during the trial.
‘You have behaved in a way demonstrating that you are positively boastful about having killed Bidve,’ he said.
The judge said Stapleton – who in his first court appearance told magistrates his name was ‘Psycho Stapleton’ – had committed a ‘truly wicked act’ and was a ‘highly dangerous man’ who posed a high risk of serious harm to other people.
Relieved and satisfied at the imprisonment of ‘Psycho Stapleton’, Bidve’s grieving parents said their ‘whole world was lost’ when he was killed on 26 December last.
Bidve’s Pune-based parents, Subhash and Yogini Bidve, sat through the five-week trial at the Manchester Crown Court every day, listening to evidence and watching the remorseless Stapleton at times mock the justice system.
Speaking after the sentencing, Subhash Bidve said: ‘It is very difficult without him, because he was such a lovely son,’ but was ‘relieved and satisfied’ with Stapleton’s conviction.
It was ‘very difficult’ to face Stapleton in court every day of the trial. It took almost five weeks – that is a long time sitting in the court, hearing how he killed him, what was going through his mind when he killed him and what his intentions were. It was very, very difficult every day, sitting and hoping that [Anuj] would get justice,’ he said. People convicted for murder in UK are usually eligible for parole after around 18 years.
Bidve had arrived in London last September and was studying postgraduate micro-electronics at a University in northwest London.
Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West Area, said: ‘Anuj Bidve’s murder in the early hours of Boxing Day last year was a terrible crime which shocked and appalled us all. It is all the more tragic because it was completely senseless.’
He said Anuj had his whole life ahead of him and was young and bright, a talented student enjoying his time at Lancaster University.
‘Kiaran Stapleton shot Anuj, an innocent and defenceless man, at close range without warning or provocation. It was a cowardly murder, and his reaction afterwards in trying to cover his tracks, hide from police and evade justice was also cowardly.’
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