Girlfriend murderer to be sentenced

A man convicted of murdering his on-off girlfriend soon after raping a stranger is due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey in central London
14 October 2013

A man convicted of murdering his on-off girlfriend hours after raping a stranger will be sentenced at the Old Bailey today.

Marvin Samuels, 31, stabbed the mother of his young son 16 times and would have continued the frenzied attack if he had not hurt his hand, the Old Bailey heard last week.

Powerfully-built Samuels, of Stonebridge, north west London, was unanimously convicted by a jury of murdering Sharlana Diedrick, 32, on September 29 2012.

Hours earlier he had launched a terrifying attack on a 42-year-old woman who was walking her pet chihuahua by Welsh Harp Reservoir in Neasden, north west London.

He battered the woman, who looked like his ex-girlfriend, after dragging her into the undergrowth.

He admitted rape and grievous bodily harm, but was charged with attempted murder, of which the jury cleared him.

Samuels and the rape victim were complete strangers.

He attacked her with a bottle and a piece of wood.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson said ''she was in the wrong place at the wrong time but had a resemblance'' to Ms Diedrick.

He told the jury: ''Having raped he then beat her in particular using a piece of wood and caused her serious injury.

''Having left her for dead, two hours later the defendant then attacked Ms Diedrick as she sat in the seat of her car using a knife he had in advance.''

The attack on his former lover, with whom he had a ''volatile'' relationship, was carried out after he left the rape victim, who cannot be named, for dead.

Denying Ms Diedrick's murder, Samuels claimed he was not ''mentally responsible'' at the time.

The trial heard from a psychiatrist that while on remand Samuels had attacked inmates for looking at him.

The rape victim was unable to give information about what happened to her but forensic evidence was found linking Samuels to her.

Samuels told detectives that after pulling her in to the undergrowth he felt like he was ''lost in space'' and that he was ''feeling abnormal'' when he attacked her.

Mr Atkinson said: ''He then directed her to undress and started to choke her with her scarf and then struck her head first with a bottle and then a branch.''

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

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

Witnesses had heard her screaming.

Mr Atkinson said: ''She was covered in blood and a blood-stained knife was found near her. She had suffered 16 stab wounds to the chest and abdomen."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in