A man who murdered convicted child killer David Gaut has been jailed for a minimum of 24 years.
Ieuan Harley, 23, was handed the sentence at Newport Crown Court today, Monday, March 25.
Child killer Gaut was found dead at his flat on Long Row in New Tredegar on Saturday, August 4, last year. The trial was told how he had been stabbed more than 150 times while he was alive and a further 26 times when he was dead.
Newport Crown Court heard Gaut had moved into a flat next door to Harley’s friend David Osborne in the village of New Tredegar, Gwent, after being released from prison.
Gaut pretended he had been in prison for murdering a soldier. But his neighbours discovered the truth about his criminal past after searching his name on the internet.
Gaut was lured to Osborne’s house on the pretence of borrowing a DVD – only to be brutally murdered by enraged Harley.
Judge Mr Justice Clive Lewis told Harley: “I am sure that you Ieuan Harley killed David Gaut because you found out that he had killed a child and you decided he should be made to suffer.
“Quite simply what you did was murder.
“You carried out a brutal and savage killing of another person.”
He told Harley the killing showed “cruel and near-sadistic behaviour.
Harley was convicted of murder and perverting the course of justice and was jailed for life with a minimum of 24 years.
Osborne, 51, Harley and fellow friend Darren Evesham, 47, dragged Gaut’s dead body back next door and tried to clean up the crime scene.
Osborne and Evesham, of New Tredegar, were cleared of murder but convicted of perverting the course justice for cleaning up blood and moving the body.
The judge told them: “All three of you were seeking to hamper the investigation.”
Osborne was jailed for two years and four months and Evesham was jailed for three-and-a-half years.
“This man is no better than David, he too is a killer”
Gaut’s mother Phyllis Gaut, 78, said her son had “paid the price” for the 1985 murder and said: “This man is no better than David, he too is a killer.
“David spent over 30 years in prison and paid the price for what he did. David struggled to understand how much the world had moved on since he had been in prison.
“I understand how some people will not sympathise David is dead. As a family we do not condone what David did.
“I believe his release from prison was a chance for him to do some good.
“His death has left a huge void in my heart. This man has taken away the opportunity to prove he had changed.
“I only hope he will have remorse for what he has done.”
Detective Superintendent Judith Roberts, Gwent Police’s Senior Investigating Officer in this case, said: “The shocking level of violence inflicted upon David Gaut – both before and after he died – is reflected in the prison sentence handed down to Ieuan Harley today.
“David’s past conviction and prison sentence attracted significant media and public interest; however, this did not distract us from the focus of our investigation, which was to identify who was responsible for his death and bring them to justice.
“Although this was an isolated crime, it is understandable such an act of violence can cause fear and concern in any local community. I would like to thank the residents of New Tredegar for their co-operation, support and understanding during this investigation and reassure them that the local neighbourhood policing team are working closely with other agencies to keep them safe.
“Finally, I would like to pay my respects to David’s family, who in the past eight months have had to come to terms with his death and re-live events of the past, in which they played no part. I hope they will now be given privacy and the opportunity to move forward with their lives.”
In 1985, Gaut was babysitting his girlfriend’s son Chi Ming Shek – known as Marky Pickthall – when he battered, kicked and burned the sole of this child’s foot.
The baby’s mum Jane Pickthall, then 23, had been out drinking and left Gaut to look after her two young children.
She arrived home in Caerphilly and made love to Gaut – but the next day she found her son’s dead body under a chest of drawers.
A murder trial at Cardiff Crown Court heard Gaut tried to make the death look accidental.
Miss Pickthall found Marky dead underneath a chest of drawers in his bedroom.
The baby died of multiple injuries including a broken arm, injured liver and spleen and a fractured skull.
Gaut was convicted of murder and jailed for life in July 1985 – but was released on parole.
The final movements of child killer David Gaut in the hours before he was allegedly murdered have been released by Gwent Police.