Predatory Leeds murderer and rapist who targeted sex workers told he must serve at least 28 years
A predatory rapist with a history of sexual violence has been jailed for life for the savage murder of sex worker Louisa Hall in his own flat.
Steven Francis was convicted at Leeds Crown Court this week of brutally beating and strangling the 43-year-old.
She had more than 100 blunt-force injuries to her body, many inflicted with the use of an unidentified weapon.
Francis was also convicted of raping and attacking another sex worker at his Little London flat almost a decade ago.
It was disclosed in court that he was jailed for six years in 1990 after he raped a woman in her own flat. He was found guilty after a trial.
Judge John Thackray KC told Francis he must serve at least 28 years, less time spent on remand.
He said of Ms Hall: “No sentence I impose can bring back or can undo what you have done to her.
“She was a wholly blameless victim. It was a brutal sustained attack on her. It’s inevitable she suffered physically and mentally before her death.
“She had so much to live for. She was a much-loved mother and daughter.”
Ms Hall’s body was found at his flat on Oatland Court on October 25, 2023.
Francis had raised the alarm, dialling 999 and then concocting a story that he had come home to find her dead.
He gave a series of implausible explanations to police in a desperate bid to escape justice, all of which were highlighted and disproved by the Crown during the seven-day trial.
This included claims that he had only met Ms Hall that afternoon, but CCTV picked them up together in the early hours of that fateful day.
Francis claimed he went to visit an old friend that afternoon whom he had recently seen, and left an uninjured Ms Hall in the flat only to return and discover her battered, lifeless body.
But CCTV from the tower block of flats did not pick him up leaving or returning during that time, he never caught the bus he claimed, and the supposed friend later told police he had not seen Francis for 13 years. His DNA was also found on Ms Hall’s neck.
Compounding his brittle defence, Francis then declined to go into the witness box and give evidence before the jury.
They returned an unanimous guilty verdict having deliberated for just over three hours.
The 59-year-old was also found guilty of two counts of rape, false imprisonment, ABH and robbery of another sex worker in the same flat years prior.
With striking similarities with Ms Hall’s murder, he stripped, beat and raped the woman.
He then refused to let her leave. It was not until she promised him money and he frogmarched her to a Post Office was she able to seize the opportunity to run.
She spoke to the police but after Francis denied all allegations during a police interview, the matter was not pursued.
She only came forward again when she learned of Ms Hall’s violent death.