Postman bludgeoned mum to death with dumbbell and hid her body for 11 days

A court has heard the chilling recording of a woman being bludgeoned to death with a dumbbell. 

Sheffield Crown Court on Friday sentenced postman Mark Nicholls to life in prison for the brutal murder of Emily Sanderson, a 50-year-old mum-of-three.

Nicholls had been charged with battering Sanderson at least 13 times in his Sheffield home before wrapping up her body for it only to be discovered 11 days later. 

At sentencing, Judge Jeremy Richardson described the incident as a ‘ferociously violent attack on a defenceless woman’, adding that she had ‘an unrelenting avalanche of violence visited upon her.’

Prosecutors played to the court a tape of Sanderson’s final moments, recorded during a call to a cab firm. 

The audio is interrupted by a muffled scream, after which Nicholls is heard to say ‘robbing bitch’ followed by a series of dull thuds. 

Members of Sanderson’s family left the court while the clip was played. 

Prosecutor Sam Green said Sanderson had worked as an escort and that Nicholls was one of her clients. 

He added that Nicholls had taken an early train to Malton in North Yorkshire the morning after the killing, which took place on the evening of May 19. 

CCTV cameras recorded him drinking at several pubs in the town, as well as dining at a restaurant with a female companion. 

Sanderson was reported missing by her family on May 25, with her body found five days later when police broke into Nicholls’ house after a neighbour reported he had seen the defendant digging in the garden. 

The defence noted that Nicholls, who had admitted murder at a previous hearing, had a patchy recollection of the events due to his consumption of alcohol and crack cocaine. 

Judge Richardson said Nicholls had committed a ‘truly wicked act’.

He said: ‘You perpetrated a brutal murder of a young woman. You repeatedly bludgeoned her with determined ferocity.’

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