Katie Locke's father pays tribute to murdered daughter

Katie Locke, 23, was murdered by Carl Langdell who she met on dating site ‘Plenty of Fish’.

Langdell, 26, strangled Katie in a room at the Theobolds Park Hotel in Hertfordshire in the early hours of Christmas Eve 2015, her body was found in a bush near a skip in the hotel ground.

At a coroner’s inquest yesterday (June 9) Katie’s father Bill said she had “lived life to the full” and “was a generous person who cared for other people and put them first.”

She loved being part of a team, was a Brownie, a Guide and loved water sports, becoming a Kayak instructor. Katie studied history and politics at Southampton University, had volunteered at the London Olympics and worked with underprivileged children in the US.

“She was self-confident and fearless and an energetic and beautiful person,” he said. His wife said she “died” on the day Katie died.

At the time of her death she was working as a history teacher at Cardinal Pole School in Hackney, east London.

Carl Langdell was given a life sentence after pleading guilty. Photo: Hertfordshire Police

Langdell, 26 at the time of the murder, 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 inquest, 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.”

In a report Dr Philip Joseph, a forensic psychiatrist who examined Langdell for his sentencing hearing, said he was “emotionally unstable” and had “psychopathic disorders.”

He said: “He was narcissistic, emotionally unstable and was also cold and callous. He got sexual satisfaction from controlling women. It is likely the killing was sexually motivated. He had a callous unconcern for Katie Locke.”