Stonebridge man who raped woman in Neasden before murdering his ex-girlfriend is jailed for life

Marvin Samuels has been jailed for life with a minimum tariff of 33 years (Image: Archant)

Marvin Samuels, 31, of Conduit Way, stabbed 32-year-old Sharlana Diedrick 16 times and would have continued the frenzied attack while she sat in her car in Wybourne Way, Stonebridge, if he had not hurt his hand on September 29 last year.

He was found unanimously guilty of murder at the Old Bailey last week and had admitted two other charges of rape and grievous bodily harm.

Today he was jailed for life with a minimum tariff of 33 years.

Sentencing Samuels, Judge Timothy Pontius told him: “These three crimes are all individually horrifying in the extent of the mere brutality with which they were committed. Taken together, they represent a level of violent behaviour carried out during a period of just a few hours that I have rarely encountered.

“You went out armed with at least one knife that day and by the time you murdered Sharlana Diedrick you had two knives.”

The judge said it was noted that he did not use a knife on his rape victim.

“Nevertheless, you raped her brutally and beat her savagely with a tree branch and, on your own admission, a bottle,” he said.

“Furthermore, you used a scarf to strangle her.”

The woman “remains so traumatised by the extent she suffered at your hands that she has been unable to describe any of it”, the judge added.

“It was only six hours or so later that you killed Sharlana Diedrick, the mother of your young son.”

Samuels showed no emotion as he was told he would serve three concurrent life sentences for the three counts.

He denied murder, claiming he was not “mentally responsible” at the time.

The judge went on: “In all the evidence the jury and I have heard, in particular the number of blows and the force with which they were inflicted on a wholly defenceless woman sitting at the wheel of her car, I am not of the slightest doubt that you intended to kill her.

“Furthermore, whatever your mental state at present, there is no doubt in my mind that on September 29 last year your mind was not so afflicted as to lessen the culpability of what you did to any extent.”

Jurors heard he launched the terrifying attack on a 42-year-old woman who was walking her pet chihuahua by Welsh Harp Reservoir in Neasden, at around 5pm.

He battered the woman, who looked like Ms Diedrick, with a bottle and a piece of wood after dragging her into undergrowth.

He strangled her with her scarf, rendering her unconscious, and then left her for dead.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was unable to give information about what happened to her but forensic evidence was found linking Samuels to her.

Her naked and badly-beaten body was found when her worried husband and others carried out a search after she did not return home.

Ms Diedrick, with whom Samuels had a “volatile” relationship, was found at 11.16pm that night with her body slumped halfway out of her Hyundai car, which was parked near his home.

Witnesses said they had heard her screaming.

She suffered 16 stab wounds to the chest and abdomen.

Samuels, who the court heard has suffered from an anti-social personality disorder and paranoia since childhood, was also charged with the attempted murder of the rape victim but was cleared by jurors.