Briton admits quadruple murder

LONDON - A former rubbish collector pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering his girlfriend, her twin sister and an elderly couple in northern England last July.

Police had charged Mark Hobson, 35, after a massive investigation following the discovery of the naked bodies of 27-year-old Claire and Diane Sanderson, and former Spitfire pilot James Britton and his wife Joan.

Officers said there seemed to be no reason for the killing spree which began with the brutal end of a tumultuous 18-month love affair and ended with Hobson living rough in a hidden tent near a petrol station.

"We do not know his motives or why he turned into a vicious killer," senior investigating officer Detective Superintendent Javad Ali told reporters in Leeds.

"He was interviewed at length but gave no explanation for his actions."

Hobson violently attacked the Sanderson twins in an apartment in the village of Camblesforth, Yorkshire, in July last year.

Written notes suggested Hobson had planned the murders, and even intended to kill more members of the Sanderson family, the court heard.

Diane's boyfriend and the twins' father George discovered the women's bodies in refuse sacks at the property.

Claire had suffered 17 blows to the head with a blunt object while her sister had been sexually assaulted, the court heard.

Later, 80-year-old Britton and his 82-year-old wife were found stabbed and beaten to death in their home in the nearby village of Strensall.

The court heard Hobson battered Britton with his own walking stick before attacking his frail wife in an unexplained frenzy.

Hobson told police he was high on cocaine, ecstasy and alcohol at the time.

The murders triggered a nationwide manhunt involving 300 officers and a broad media campaign to find Hobson after he went on the run.

Police arrested him in a field at Shipton-by-Beningbrough, a village just north of York, following a week-long search after he had been spotted at a petrol station where he had gone to buy matches, cigarette papers and water. He had been living rough in the tent nearby.

Leeds Crown Court adjourned sentencing until April 27.

- REUTERS