Murderer Jack Crawley will spend at least 37 years behind bars

The profound impact of Paul Taylor’s murder on October 18 last year was spelled out in heart-breaking detail as 20-year-old Crawley was sentenced at the city's crown court.

In a bitter irony, the killer will be almost the same age as his 56-year-old victim when the Parole Board can first consider him for possible release. 

The court heard several moving victim statements, including one from the second man Crawley tried to bludgeon to death with a claw hammer. Haunted by flashbacks, the man said he believes he too would have died had he not fought off his attacker.

Crawley, formerly of Sheehan Crescent, Carlisle, admitted the manslaughter of Mr Taylor, a former soldier who worked at The Cumberland Infirmary as a catering manager where the defendant also worked.

But Crawley denied murder and attempting to murder the man near York after he went on the run following his initial arrest.

The jury found him guilty of both allegations.

During the hour-long sentencing hearing, prosecuting barrister William Beardmore read out statements from Mr Taylor’s family and from the man who survived Crawley’s hammer attack near the Yorkshire village of Acaster Malbis on January 5.

Mr Taylor’s wife Maria said the tragedy had “torn apart” her family’s world and would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Paul Taylor (seen below) was a husband and a dad, a gentle and loving man, who was always there when family or friends needed a “true and loyal friend,” she said.

(Image: Cumbria Police photo)

“We had planned for growing old together, travelling around Scotland and hopefully becoming grandparents one day,” she wrote. “This has been taken away by Jack Crawley – not just Paul’s life but our hopes and dreams.”

Their children would never have their father to walk them down the aisle, making “silly dad jokes,” when they marry. Nor would she have the opportunity to ask her husband about his lifestyle choices.

“So many questions will never be answered for me,” she said.

Mr Taylor’s son spoke of the every-day pleasures of having his father around, including him “burning the sausages” at a family barbecue. He would never hear his dad’s side of the story, he said.

Mr Taylor’s daughter also spoke of her father not now being able to be with her when she marries, and of how he will never meet his future grandchildren.

They all loved and missed him, she said.

Mr Taylor's loss means his family are serving a life sentence and Crawley too should be given life in custody for what he had put his family through.

Mr Taylor’s sister Angela Malloy also made a statement.

Crawley’s actions had cruelly taken away future memories, family times and celebrations in “horrendous and indescribable” circumstances.

She added: “Everybody has choices; everybody knows right from wrong. It’s my personal opinion that Jack Crawley knew right from wrong. He chose to act wrongly. Jack Crawley is responsible for his own actions.

“He chose to act and to continue to continue to injure and hurt Paul in an unrelenting and inhumane way and then to leave Paul in Finglandrigg Wood for a further seven months, ensuring Paul further harm.

“He made all of those choices. He chose to hurt and hide Paul, further traumatising our family. I believe Jack Crawley is a risk to society and a danger to others.”

She recalled how, when Mr Taylor went missing in October last year, she travelled from Yorkshire to help family members in Annan search for him. They left posters appealing for information in Carlisle city centre and at motorway service stations.

“Having to return to Yorkshire when Paul was still missing was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do,” she said. She added: “This has broken us.”

The York victim, whose name can not be revealed, said the attack had left him wary and feeling vulnerable. He suffered flashbacks and mental health issues as a result of the violence.

“I honestly think that if I hadn’t managed to escape, I would have ended up just like the other man before me.

“I would desperately like to put closure to the whole thing but I don’t think I will ever be able to until I know the reason why the attack happened. I was never provided with answers, not even during the trial and this will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

Toby Hedworth KC, for Crawley suggested that Mr Taylor, as Crawley attacked him with a hammer, would have suffered a death that was  “extremely quick if not instantaneous.”

Of Crawley, he said: “He continues to live in a fantasy world, albeit a very unpleasant world. He has a great deal of growing up to do and now he will have the opportunity to do so in a place where the public will be protected from him.”

Mr Hedworth said the mitigating factors included Crawley “doing the right thing” when he told police where to find Mr Taylor’s remains.

Crawley – wearing a crumpled blue suit but no tie – stared impassively ahead as Mr Justice Goose told him he must serve a minimum term behind bars of 37 years before he can considered for release on parole.

“This murder was carried out by you with the intention to kill, as the jury found by their verdict,” began the judge.

“You used brutal and exceptional violence; it was a murder for gain because you wanted to steal his car, and afterwards, with callous cruelty to the family and friends of the man you murdered, you took the body away and set it on fire before it was hidden.”

It was seven months before Crawley gave police his “lying account” of how Mr Taylor had died. Not content with that, he had then tried to murder the second victim in a remote location near York.

“I am satisfied that had that man not been strong and brave enough, you would have murdered him too,” the judge told Crawley. “You are a highly dangerous young man.”

After arranging to meet Mr Taylor in a remote area on October 18 last year on the pretence of wanting “consensual sex,” Crawley attacked him with a hammer, delivering at least ten blows to his head and face.

After cleaning the car (pictured) and dumping Mr Taylor’s body, Crawley tried but failed to sell his stolen Vauxhall Corsa for £2,000– evidence of the defendant’s motive, his desire to rob his victim of the car, said the judge.

 (Image: Cumbria Police photo) In the attempted murder near York, the jury had corrected concluded that Crawley meant to kill his victim, said the judge. “It was not until February of this year that you were further arrested,” continued the judge.

It was three months after this that Crawley asked his solicitors to tell the police where Mr Taylor’s body was hidden.

The judge added: “Your offending has caused unimaginable grief to Mr Taylor’s family, who had had to listen during this trial to the cruel way in which you murdered Mr Taylor and then destroyed and concealed his body.

“It has been shocking for them to listen to what you did to Mr Taylor. Their loss if profound and will last forever.”

The judge accepted that Crawley’s age – just 19 when he committed both serious offences – and his immaturity offered some mitigation. But a doctor had concluded he was not suffering from a mental health disorder.

He had seen his parents divorce and witnessed some violence in the home, the court heard and Crawley claimed he was bullied at school. He also claimed he was involved in gang crime, and forced to commit crimes.

“You said they told you to steal a car, which is why you went to meet Paul Taylor; and that they were following you when you escaped to Scotland and Yorkshire," continued the judge.

“Whether that is true or not, I find it provides little if any mitigation for these serious offences. You were not being asked to use violence, still less to murder one man and attempt to murder another.”

Crawley, who had also admitted possessing an offensive weapon – the hammer – and a burglary in York - showed no emotion as security staff led him away to begin his sentence.