Killer jailed under new double-jeopardy laws

LONDON (Reuters) - A man acquitted of killing his ex-girlfriend seven years ago was given two life sentences on Friday after fresh evidence came to light in a fresh trial under new double jeopardy laws.

The Old Bailey heard that it was the first case under the new rules in which a defendant who has previously been acquitted by a jury has been convicted.

The so-called double jeopardy rule -- an 800-year-old law which stipulated that a person once acquitted could not be tried again for the same offence -- was reformed in 2003.

Mario Celaire, 31, was jailed for life and told he must serve at least 23 years after pleading guilty to the attempted murder of ex-girlfriend Kara Hoyte, in a hammer attack in 2007, the Press Association reported.

He was also given a concurrent life term with a minimum of eight years after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of another ex-girlfriend, Cassandra McDermot, 19, in Norbury, south-east London in 2001.

The former Maidstone United player was cleared in 2002 over the death of McDermott whom he had beaten unconscious and left to choke on an undigested Chinese takeaway.

But the verdict was quashed on appeal under the reformed double jeopardy laws.

It was the "remarkable" courage of Hoyte, who was left brain-damaged after Celaire attacked her, that helped bring him to justice for both crimes, the court was told.

The attack was so fierce that parts of Hoyte's brain were exposed when she was found in a pool of blood in her room.