Katie Locke inquest hears extent of Carl Langdell's threat

Bogus lawyer Carl Langdell met Katie Locke, 23, on ‘Plenty of Fish’ and took her to a hotel, where he had taken at least one other woman before.

The Southampton University graduate, who lived with her parents in Buckhurst Hill, was unaware that Langdell was serving a suspended sentence for threatening to kill two people and had told a Community Psychiatric Nurse that he wanted to cut a girl's throat, see her naked and have sex with her when she was dead.

In the early hours of Christmas Eve 2015 he strangled Katie in a room at the Theobolds Park Hotel in Hertfordshire. Her body was found in a bush near a skip in the hotel grounds.

At an inquest in Hatfield today (Wednesday, June 9), a statement was read from a pathologist Charlotte Randall who found the cause of death to be compression of the neck. She said: “There is little doubt it was a forceful and prolonged assault and was accompanied by serous sexual violence.”

Katie Locke lived with her parents in Buckhurst Hill, Essex. Photo: Hertfordshire Police

Langdell, then 26, pleaded guilty to murdering Katie. He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 26 years in June 2016.

In February, Langdell, who was aged 30 and from Cheshunt, died in Wakefield Maximum Security Prison, having cut his throat.

At the start of the hearing, Assistant Coroner Alison McCormick said the inquest without a jury, was being held after an application was made by Katie’s parents Bill and Jennifer.

The coroner said she will decide whether “acts or admissions” by public bodies contributed to the death of Katie, the youngest of three daughters.

Nick Armstrong, who is representing Mr and Mrs Locke, said Langdell had internet contact with up to 20 women and had talked about carrying out rape scenarios.

He said Langdell, who had studied journalism at Hertfordshire University, was released from a mental ward on 20 September 2015. “He was dating multiple women across multiple websites. He had used the hotel at least one before and had lied about who he was.”

Chief Inspector Stephen O’Keefe, of Hertfordshire police, said Langdell had been cautioned in 2009 for assault a girlfriend. In July 2013 he was regarded as a risk to himself. In September that year he made unsubstantiated claims that someone was threatening to harm him.

He had assaulted his brother in July 2014, but the brother had failed to support a prosecution.

In February 2015 he made threats to kill his girlfriend’s sister and threatened to kill a Mental Health worker in Avon and Somerset. He was bailed to Hertfordshire where he attempted to kill himself and was placed under the supervision of Hertfordshire’s mental health services.

Chief Inspector O’Keefe said the bail conditions had been had not been communicated to Hertfordshire police.

Three weeks before he killed Katie he had received a suspended sentence at Bristol for making the threats.