The murderer of pregnant teenager Nikitta Grender was dubbed a “calculating, vain and devious individual”

by the judge who jailed him for a minimum of 35 years yesterday.

AILSA CHALK reports.

CARL Whant today starts a life sentence after being jailed for a minimum of 35 years for the rape and murder of pregnant teenager Nikitta Grender.

Jury members took just over four hours to convict Whant, 27, of murdering Miss Grender, destroying her unborn child Kelsey- May, rape, and arson, on February 5 last year.

Mr Justice John Griffith Williams branded Whant a “calculat i n g , vain and devious individual” as he handed down the sentence.

Miss Grender’s body was found in the bedroom of the flat she shared with boyfriend Ryan Mayes, 19, in B r o a d m e a d Park, Lliswerry.

During the five-week trial, jury members heard that Whant spent the evening of February 4, 2011, on a drinkand- drug fuelled night out with Mr Mayes and friends in Newport city centre before going to a house party in Corelli Street.

The drinking and cocaine use continued, before Whant left at around 5am, driving to Broadmead Park, where he brutally raped and murdered the 19-year-old mum-to-be, setting fire to her bed.

Throughout the trial Whant maintained he left the party to get cigarettes from his nan’s house and initially denied ever having sex with Miss Grender.

It was only in December last year, when his defence case statement was filed, that he admitted having sex with her, but claimed it was consensual.

Yesterday, Miss Grender’s parents, Marcia Grender and Paul Brunnock, and boyfriend Mr Mayes, were supported by friends and family in the packed public gallery as the jury returned their verdict.

After it, prosecutor Gregg Taylor QC told the court Whant had previous convictions for theft, burglary and shoplifting. Whant’s counsel, Christopher Kinch QC, said Whant, of no fixed abode, was still a relatively young man.

He said: “There are convictions, but no violence, no sexual offending, nothing to suggest that what happened could be predicted.”

Mr Justice Griffith Williams said the death of Miss Grender and her unborn daughter had left her parents, Mr Mayes and friends “bereft” and their loss was “compounded by the knowledge that her murderer had raped her and then tried to destroy her body.”

The judge said: “Only you know the full facts and circumstances of these offences, but you have shown no remorse and, in an act of extraordinary hypocrisy, took flowers to the Grender household.”

He said: “I’m satisfied you decided to go to her flat, but you knew she was unlikely to agree to consensual sex so you went armed with a knife. It is likely that she let you in, believing that Ryan Mayes was with you, and you were able to overpower her, but she was able to put up some resistance.

“She made it clear to you that she was going to report you for raping her and that is why you murdered her.”

The judge said the offences were aggravated by the fact that Kelsey-May was capable of being born alive and by setting the fire he deprived Miss Grender’s parents and Mr Mayes of seeing Miss Grender’s face for the last time.

Judge’s history of major cases

Mr Justice John Griffith Williams, 67, was appointed as a Hight Court judge in 2007.

He was called to the Bar in 1968 and was made a Recorder in 1984. In 2001, Mr Justice Griffith Williams was made the honorary Recorder of Cardiff, a position he held until 2007.

He is the current Presiding Judge of Wales, a position he has held since 2010, and was made an honorary fellow of the University of Cardiff in 2008.

Mr Justice Griffith Williams was also the judge in the murder trials of the killers of Lemy Bullock in 2006 and Michael Baldwin in 2003.