MURDERING a young mother, stabbing her more than 60 times and mutilating her naked body, was bad enough, but then cold heartedly killing her two year old child as well took a certain kind of monster.

 

However, society couldn’t say it hadn’t been warned about Darren Gale, for when he ended the life of  Pauline Turner after a night out in Worcester in 1993, he had already been questioned twice before by police following sex attacks in

the Ronkswood area of the city.  One on a woman aged 80 in the street and another on a 15-year-old babysitter.

 

He had also pulled a knife on a love rival, but none of the cases managed to reach court and so the factory worker, who lived at home with his parents in Liverpool Road and had a reputation for violence in the local soccer leagues, was

free to take his temper on to the streets.

 

His victim had not had the best of times in her 30 years on Earth. Pauline Turner was born with a hole in the heart and she had also seen her seven year marriage collapse. It produced three boys, the older two were diagnosed as hyperactive

and Pauline had voluntarily put them in the care of foster parents. At the time of her death in February, 1993, she had not long moved into a new home with her youngest son Jamie, who was aged two, and looking forward to starting a new life with a new partner.

 

Although her heart condition slowed her down, Pauline was determined to make the best of things and every fortnight treated herself to a night out at Drewids nightclub in Lowesmoor with friends.

It was there on the Saturday night of  February 13, she encountered Darren Leslie Gale, drunk on 11 pints of lager, who was five years younger than her and on the prowl for sex.

 

A finisher at a glass fibre factory, he had already tried to fix up sex sessions with two other women  he met at the club that night, but was rebuffed each time. Then across the dance floor he saw Pauline.

 

Gale later claimed to police he knew her, although he made no move on the young mother in the club. Instead he waited until she left and then asked one of her friends where she lived. However, he didn’t follow her, in fact he went home,

and it was not until 2.30 in the morning that he appeared outside her new address in Canterbury Road.

 

Inside Pauline was awake waiting for a telephone call from her new boyfriend, who was about to finish a work shift in London. But instead of the ring of the phone she heard Gale calling from the street outside.

 

She went to the bedroom window and the pair had a brief conversation. It was then Pauline Turner made the fateful decision that was to cost her life – she went downstairs and let Gale into the house. Not long afterwards the phone call from

London did come, but no-one answered. Pauline and baby Jamie were already dead.

 

The gruesome discovery of the killings was made next morning in the most horrific circumstances. It was Valentines Day and Pauline’s oldest son, who was only seven, was taken to her home by his foster carers so he could give his mum flowers

and a card. But as the youngster walked through the front door he was met not by smiles and hugs, but by the bloody sight of his mother’s naked and mutilated body and that of his baby brother, who had been strangled.

 

Police arrested Gale the same day. They found him at the home of an ex-girlfriend playing videos games with his own two year old daughter.

 

His trial for murder took place at Hereford Crown Court in June 1994. Gale pleaded not guilty, admitting he had called to see Pauline on the night of her killing, but said when he left she was fine. His defence counsel Richard Henriques

QC – who had been the lead prosecutor in the infamous James Bulger murder trial the year before – suggested someone else must have entered Pauline Turner’s home after Gale left.

 

The prosecution claimed that having been rebuffed in his sexual endeavours in Drewids, Gale decided to try his luck by calling at Pauline’s home in the early hours of the morning. He sweet-talked his way inside, but after she too refused

his demands he strangled her with a pyjama cord and then mutilated her body with 60 stab wounds. When little Jamie heard the noise, he must have got out of bed and entered the room. Gale then strangled the child with his bare hands.

 

There was damning evidence to back up the police case. Blood on Gale’s shirt, jeans and a sock matched Pauline’s and one of his bloody fingerprints was found on a stair bannister. He had no explanation for any of this.

 

Despite that, the jury only convicted Gale by a majority verdict. However, the judge, Mr Justice Buckley, had no such reservations.  He said: “The sentence prescribed by law is life imprisonment and that is the sentence I shall pass.”