Young mother Sarah Anderson stabbed Dee Willis to death in the street following an apparently random confrontation. Anderson, 26 at the time, was on her way to a pub to settle an argument with another woman when she attacked the 28-year-old victim.
The killer, who had armed herself with a kitchen knife from her home, stabbed Miss Willis victim in the neck - severing her carotid artery and jugular vein with a single blow. Miss Willis, who had been out cycling with her boyfriend and was not involved in the pub dispute, died within an hour of the attack on July 1, 2008. She had lost unborn twin girls prematurely just two months earlier and was still mourning the loss of her own sister in 2004.
Anderson was later convicted of murder at the Old Bailey after an 8 day trial. The court heard she flew in to a rage after a heated confrontation with another drinker at the Kentish Drovers pub in Peckham High Street.
She argued with two women in the pub's beer garden and became so incensed she was seen 'spitting in the face' of one as she screamed at her. She warned the woman she would 'f*ck her up' and said: 'I know you lot think I'm a d*ckhead but watch out, I'm coming back.' Anderson returned home to get a knife, swapping her tight-fitting grey mini-dress for a pair of jeans in which she could conceal the weapon.
On her way back to the pub at around 11pm, she ran into Miss Willis in Bellenden Road, opposite a Lidl supermarket. The court heard angry words were exchanged between the pair and when Miss Willis got off her bike to challenge Anderson, the killer produced the knife and stabbed her in the neck.
Anderson was heard by witnesses aggressively shouting: "Come on bad girl, come on."
Anderson was heard by witnesses aggressively shouting: "Come on bad girl, come on."
Prosecutor Brendan Kelly QC said: 'What seems to have happened is that Dee Willis grabbed hold of the hair of Sarah Anderson. 'But almost immediately Sarah Anderson has lunged towards Dee Willis and in doing so inserted the blade of the knife, in to the neck of Dee Willis. The knife severed Miss Willis's carotid artery and jugular vein, resulting in her bleeding to death."
Following the stabbing, Anderson fled via a friend's flat to Hertfordshire and then Basingstoke, Hants, before being arrested 10 days later. She denied murder and refused to give evidence during the trial, but claimed through her barrister that she was acting in self-defence.
Judge Richard Hone QC jailed her for life with a minimum 15 year term and told her: 'In my view there was an element of planning and premeditation which I think should be categorised as significant. 'The jury, in my view, quite rightly rejected self defence. To use a knife to the neck with a single blow of at least moderate force, up to the hilt, plainly shows a greater likelihood of an intention to kill rather than a lesser intention to cause really serious harm. You have an uncontrolled temper in certain situations, particularly when fuelled by alcohol. That was further demonstrated by your recent conviction for causing actual bodily harm. At the age of 26 you should have been better able to control yourself. You should also have thought of the consequences for your seven-year-old son when arming yourself with a knife. You have shown not a shred of remorse and an inability to face up to what you have done gives you no credit. You have destroyed more than one life by you self-centred actions that night.'
