Notorious Leeds 'body in the bath' murderer Alphonso Frederick attacked ex girlfriend with machete then drowned her during vendetta

Alphonso Frederick carried out the sadistic killing of Patricia Gammon at a flat in Potternewton in November 1984 as part of a vendetta.

Frederick spent almost 35 years in prison after being found guilty of the murder in a case dubbed 'the body in the bath trial'.

The YEP reported earlier this week how Frederick was released on licence in May last year but then subjected a 56-year-old women to an horrific attack at his home on Roundhay Road.

A judge warned the 65-year-old defendant that it is possible he may now never be released from prison.The YEP's coverage of Frederick's murder trial at Leeds Crown Court reveals how 33-year-old Patricia Gammon was murdered as revenge for giving evidence against her former partner at a robbery trial.

Frederick, then aged 29, was described as a fearsome figure in the criminal underworld.

After a brief spell as a cabinet maker and machine operator, he had supposedly been jobless for the previous six years "but he grew fat because of his dominance over the women who crossed his path, particularly prostitutes."

Frederick, who came to England from St Kitts when he was ten, had a string of convictions for robbery and violence - and the ability to cast a spell over women.

He also devised tests of loyalty for his female associates, like trying to persuade a girlfriend to cut a taxi driver's throat.

Patricia Gammon's deadly relationship with Frederick was punctuated by violent assaults on her, yet she never got the chance to break completely free.

Her grieving mother told the YEP back in 1985 how her daughter triggered a deadly vendetta when she dared to stand up to Frederick in court.

Patricia had given evidence against him in March 1984 during a trial in which he was accused of robbing a 54-year-old man.

Ironically, her evidence had inconsistencies which assisted Frederick's defence and he was acquitted after three female witnesses gave evidence which established he had an alibi.

But from that moment, Patricia Gammon's days were numbered.

Her mother said at the time: "We all loved Pat deeply. If she had lived a few weeks longer she was planning to get out of Chapeltown and settle down.

"She was like other girls who have done silly things but she had a heart of gold.

"She came to us on three occasions in absolute terror."

After being injured in a hit-and-run accident a month after the robbery case, Patricia spent her last months of her life in terror.

One night she called her mother in tears saying a man called Alphonso was threatening to kill her.

Frederick and his partner at the time, Barbara Ann Day, were both found guilty of murder after a nine-day trial.

Jurors heard how Frederick and Day spent the evening of November 27, 1984, drinking in the Gaiety and Hayfield pubs before going to Patricia's home on Sholebrook Avenue, Chapeltown.

The pair dragged their victim from the house, kicking and screaming, before she was put into a car and taken to a flat at Potternewton Heights.

She was then beaten with a machete before being drowned in the bath.

Her body was found face down in the water.

After the guilty verdicts, Mr Justice Michael Davies recommended that Frederick should serve a minimum of 25 years and Day a minimum of 15 years.

There were gasps from the public gallery when the Judge made his recommendations.

Frederick, described as "a powerfully-built man who had been stroking his beard and smiling at friends", looked visibly shaken as he left the dock.

Day, then aged 33, described as "a poetry-loving Bible-reader", showed no emotion.

Frederick and Day were also found guilty of assaulting two police officers with intent to resist arrest.

They had denied all charges but Frederick did not give evidence at the trial.

The jury took just 100 minutes to reach the guilty verdicts.

Frederick and Day were surrounded by prison officers as the judge said: "This was a planned, horrible and cruel murder.

"Of that there can be no doubt."