VIDEO: Colin Ash-Smith found guilty of murdering schoolgirl Claire Tiltman in Greenhithe

A jury of seven men and five women took three hours to reach their verdict, after they were sent out by Mr Justice Sweeney at Inner London Crown Court yesterday afternoon.

Ash-Smith, 46, stabbed Claire to death in an alleyway off London Road in Greenhithe on January 18 1993.

Claire, who was 16 at the time, had set out at around 6.10pm to walk less than a mile from her home in Woodward Terrace, Stone, to her friend Victoria Swift's in Riverview Road.

The pair had planned to discuss Claire's college choices but she never made it there.

The scene of Claire's murder on January 18 1993

Prosecutor Brian Altman QC said Ash-Smith, a former milkman who was 24 at the time and living with his parents in Milton Street, Swanscombe, subjected her to a "frenzied and remorseless" attack.

He stabbed the Dartford Grammar School pupil nine times, before she staggered to the foot of the alleyway by London Road, collapsed, and died on the pavement in front of horrified onlookers.

Ash-Smith was charged with Claire's murder in February this year after a police cold case review. 

He will be sentenced at 10am tomorrow (December 11).

1995 arrest and conviction

On the evening of October 17 1995, Ash-Smith was arrested hours after stabbing 21-year-old Charlotte Barnard inside an unlit alleyway connecting London Road with Riverview Road, just 360 meters from where Claire was attacked.

A search of his distinctive white Ford Capri uncovered one half of a school tie, which had been used in the attempted rape, kidnap and attempted murder of a 27-year-old woman near a quarry in Swanscombe on December 21 1988.

On December 20 1996, Ash-Smith pleaded guilty to both attacks and was sentenced to life in prison.

At the time of his arrest, he denied any involvement in Claire's death when questioned by police. 

Similarities

Police continued to examine the similarities between Ash-Smith's other attacks and Claire’s death, while investigations found Ash-Smith had met Claire through the local British Legion Club and had attended her funeral.

Colin Ash-Smith at Claire Tiltman's funeral 

It was later established that, the day after Claire's death, he contacted police to say he had been driving through the area on the evening of January 18 1993 and had seen someone with curly hair using the pedestrian crossing.

It was a ploy, to provide him an alibi to cover for the possibility that he and his distinctive white Ford Capri may have been seen in Greenhithe at the time Claire was attacked.

Assault plans

Evidence seized after his arrest included handwritten 'assault plans' in which he accurately described the rape, kidnap and attempted murder of a woman in 1988 - one of the offences he had pleaded guilty to.

Other offences described included almost stabbing a woman at Swanscombe train station and visiting a retirement home to carry out an attack which did not go to plan.

Also in the assault plans, Ash-Smith confessed to breaking into a friend’s home in Stanhope Road, Swanscombe, to attack his friend’s wife, but said he made a "tactical retreat" when he discovered her husband was home.

Ash-Smith added he deliberately shredded some clothes as he fled.

Police found a couple had reported a burglary in Stanhope Road on November 1 1988 in which someone appeared to enter their home through the bathroom window before leaving.

It was only after they had reported it to police that they discovered a nightdress in the bathroom slashed with a sharp blade.

During his trial for killing Claire, Ash-Smith admitted these additional incidents described in his assault plans.

Colin Ash-Smith's 'assault plans'

Further investigations discovered that in 1992 Ash-Smith had entered a woman’s home in Meopham uninvited while she slept after becoming besotted with her.

He was chased out of the home by the woman’s brother.

Confession

Cold case investigators also found during his time in prison for the 1988 and 1995 attacks, Ash-Smith befriended a fellow prisoner in which he confessed to attacking someone he saw using a zebra crossing.

The prisoner assumed the confession was for a crime Ash-Smith was already convicted of and serving a sentence for.

He was wrong.

Detectives established there were no zebra crossings near the scenes of the 1988 or 1995 attacks.

There was, however, a zebra crossing just a few hundred yards from where Claire was killed.

It is believed Claire would have used the crossing after visiting a nearby corner shop to buy cigarettes on her way to her friend’s house.

The alleyway off London Road, Greenhithe, where Claire was stabbed to death

Charged with Claire's murder

Piecing together the evidence and using changes in the law regarding the use of bad character evidence, detectives worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and on February 28 this year Ash-Smith was summoned to court and formally charged with Claire's murder. 

'Her friends never gave up'

It took 21 years for Claire Tiltman's killer to finally face justice, but throughout that time her friends never gave up hope that her murderer would be caught.

Her school friends, now in their 30s and many with children of their own, sat through every day of the trial.

Claire's parents, Linda and Cliff, have died in the two decades since her killing and never saw her killer convicted.

Cliff Tiltman with a picture of Claire

But Claire's friends made sure her parents were not forgotten, propping a photo of the couple on the wooden bench where they sat at Inner London Crown Court.

They said they thought it was "imperative" for them to attend the trial and see justice done.

Claire's friend, Emma Edwards, said: "Her parents strived to get justice for her for so long, and although they are not here to see it in person they never gave up.

"To finally have seen justice through is a huge relief.

"We wanted to make sure her memory lived on, and she wasn't forgotten."

Her best friend, Lisa Gribbin, travelled from her home in Scotland to attend the trial.

She said Claire should be remembered not just as a victim, but as a bubbly young woman from a close-knit family.

She said: "We've spoken a lot about how much Linda and Cliff loved Claire.

"She was their world.

"But until now we've never talked about how much she loved them.

"They had one of the strongest bonds I have ever seen in a family.

"Her parents were her idols, and she was never embarrassed to say that or to show it."

Claire Tiltman

Known affectionately to her friends as Tilt, Claire is remembered as feisty, fiercely loyal and with a wicked sense of humour.

A music-mad teenager, she shunned the usual boy bands, preferring to dance around her living room to Australian rock band INXS and Queen.

Ms Gribbin said: "She was a really loyal friend.

"She had a cheeky, almost wicked sense of humour.

"Very dry and very quick-witted."

Always neatly turned out with perfectly manicured nails and hair, Claire aspired to be a firefighter.

Her friends said coming face to face with her killer in court was tough, but in some ways therapeutic.

They had prepared themselves for a knife-wielding monster, and were presented with a baby-faced killer.

Joanne Roberts said: "It may have laid a lot of demons aside, seeing him.

"We have all been scared of this murdering monster.

"It took a long time to get used to this reserved man with his squeaky voice."

She said the trial answered many questions that had hung over them for more than two decades.

She added: "The only question that has not been answered is why.

"We know how, where and when, but we'll never know why."

Claire's friends Emma Edwards, Vicki Atkins, Joanne Roberts and Lisa Gribbin outside Inner London Crown Court

'Pure evil'

Detectives today branded Ash-Smith "pure evil" and said he should never be free to walk the streets again.

Officers warned he was "always looking, stalking - always looking to attack women" and would have pounced on hundreds more if he had the chance.

Detective Superintendent Rob Vinson, from the Kent and Essex serious crime directorate cold case team, said the murder was one of the most "horrific" and "emotive" cases he had worked on.

He said: "Ash-Smith is a very dangerous individual. He is a predator. He would be stalking women with evil intent (to carry out attacks) - some of which he carried out and some of which he didn't.

"On the night in question Claire was in the wrong place at the wrong time

"When you look at the writings and some of the things he has done, this is a very, very dangerous individual, and justice has been served at last for the brutal murder of Claire."

Asked if Ash-Smith should ever be freed, he said: "This is an evil man and he needs to be in prison."

Colin Ash-Smith

Ash-Smith 'would have attacked many more women'

Nigel Pilkington, head of the complex casework unit for the CPS South East, said Ash-Smith would have attacked many more women if he had the chance.

He said: "He is a man who is always looking, stalking - always looking to attack women. The fact he only attacks some of the time is because he is not going to attack if he is going to be seen.

"He is thinking about it (attacking) all the time. How many times has he thought about doing it and then abandoned it? Probably hundreds of times.

"I don't think he can help himself because he is in a 'psycho state of mind'. If you ask him if he wanted to kill Claire Tiltman, I think he couldn't stop himself."

'21 years of uncertainty'

Jaswant Narwal, CPS South East Chief Crown Prosecutor, said: "Today we have been able to bring Claire Tiltman’s killer to justice, ending 21 years of uncertainty for all those who cared for her.

"Claire’s murder shocked the whole community and her death has never been forgotten.

"Colin Ash-Smith is a ruthless and dangerous man with a history of committing violent offences against women.

"He believed that he could evade justice for more than 20 years, but he was wrong.

"For all these years he thought he could hide behind the lack of forensic, identification or other direct evidence linking him to the murder.

"However, a number of seemingly small coincidences on that January evening which, when carefully considered, examined and put together, made for a compelling case which pointed only to Ash-Smith as Claire’s killer.

"Central to our case was Ash-Smith’s ‘arc of offending’, where his attacks increased in ferocity and severity over the years.

"The remarkable similarity of Claire’s murder to other crimes committed by Ash-Smith in the Greenhithe area, along with his pattern of setting up false alibis on four separate occasions to divert attention away from himself were two of the most important features that supported the circumstantial case against him and helped to prove his guilt.

"It is tragic that neither of Claire’s parents, Cliff or Lin, are alive to witness justice being done, but I hope that today’s verdict does bring some closure for Claire’s remaining family and her friends, who – as the Justice For Claire campaign – have campaigned tirelessly to ensure that the case remained in the public eye for all these years.

"This has been one of the most complex cases that the CPS has dealt with in the South East in recent years. This has been a real team effort with Kent Police, investigators and prosecutors working closely together on this case over the last three years to ensure that we could bring this case to court and achieve justice for Claire." 

Click here for a timeline showing how events unfolded after Claire's murder.