A TEENAGER has today received a life sentence after he admitted murdering Derby mother-of-two Yvette Hallsworth.
Mateusz Kosecki, 18, of Hartington Street, Normanton, entered the guilty plea when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court. He will serve a minimum of 24 years.
Ms Hallsworth, 36, was found dead just after 11am on Sunday, April 6, at Hartington Street, Normanton.
A post-mortem examination revealed she died as a result of stab wounds.
Ms Hallsworth's family said today they knew that prostitution funded her heroin habit but to them she was "a loving sister, daughter and mother, who did not deserve this".
On the night of the murder, Ms Hallsworth had left her long-term partner Darren Vernon and a friend in the Normanton area to work.
Mr Vernon, who lived with Ms Hallsworth in Boyer Street, had spent the early hours of the morning cycling around looking for her as he was concerned after not finding her in her usual spot in Normanton Road.
At 9am on April 6 he reported her missing and then at about 11am three members of the public phoned in after spotting a woman's body lying in a service road at the back of Hartington Street.
Andrew Auty QC said: "She had been stabbed repeatedly. It was plain she had been attacked viciously."
Mr Auty said what led to the defendant being arrested two days later was extremely skilled police work. He said they seized footage that showed a man, wearing a jacket with a distinctive pattern, approaching Ms Hallsworth at the top of Hartington Street. The pair were then seen to work down Hartington Street.
He said: "They were able from a painstaking operation from house-to-house enquiries to identify the man in the CCTV to be this defendant. They also discovered a very similar jacket.
"He was living in a flat in Hartington Street with his older brother and his brother's partner and son. The partner, who was entirely cooperative with the police, identified the jacket as belonging to the defendant."
Scientific examination of the jacket found Ms Hallsworth blood was on it.
When all the evidence was put to Kosecki, he finally admitted being the killer.
Mr Auty said: "He said he had gone out intending to rob. His motivation for robbing someone was to get money so he might return to Poland. He said he had happened across a woman, who he accepted was Yvette, and chose her because she was slightly built. He said he took a knife with him, which he had got from his kitchen. He had approached her and held a knife to her and demanded money, she in response had hit out with her right elbow and caught him in the face and he had become enraged so he stabbed her repeatedly.
"He said he had never intended to kill her."
Michael Evans QC, for Kosecki, said: "He went out not with the intention of killing or physically injuring anyone. He was himself in a highly emotional state and when emotions are heightened to that extent reactions can often defy reason."
