A man has been handed a life sentence for murdering his partner, who died 21 years after he doused her with petrol and set her on fire. Steven Craig, 58, inflicted horrendous injuries on Jacqueline Kirk in a car park in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, in April 1998.
Today (Thursday, November 10) he was jailed at Bristol Crown Court for life with a minimum of 15 years for the "monstrous" attack, in which he acted out a torture scene from the film Reservoir Dogs. A jury at the same court unanimously convicted Craig of the charge last month, finding the injuries caused by him – including burns to 35 per cent of Ms Kirk’s body – were linked to her death.
Previously he had been convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to the attack on Ms Kirk, a mother-of-two, and handed a discretionary life sentence with a minimum term of nine years for that and two other offences. Craig served over 15 years in prison but was arrested and charged with murder in June 2021 after Ms Kirk’s death aged 61 in August 2019.
Read more: Man who set ex-partner alight after dousing her with petrol convicted
Ms Kirk was in hospital for nine months after the attack and required 14 operations, including a tracheotomy and skin grafts. She survived for 21 years and was able to see both of her children get married, and become a grandmother.
In August 2019, she was taken to the Royal United Hospital in Bath and died the next day. Craig, of Brailsford Road, York, had admitted the attack but denied being responsible for her death.
For the first time at Bristol Crown Court, the judge's sentencing remarks were filmed live on camera and streamed on several platforms including Bristol Live's Facebook page, which can be viewed below. Sentencing, Mrs Justice Stacey said in court: "You intended to inflict really serious violence, and cause Jacqui really serious harm on that road trip, and it was a planned and pre-meditated attack.
"Looking at the case today, I cannot be sure that you filled the coke bottle with petrol specifically so that you could burn Jacqui later and act out the scene from Reservoir Dogs...but there is no doubt you planned and intended to engage in a gratuitous, deliberate and monstrous attack on Jacqui during that road trip, with whatever means at your disposal, and to intimidate her psychologically to cause maximum physical and mental pain over a period of days.
"Her courage to survive in defiance of her injuries and trauma shines out in her [victim] statement and she was determined to give evidence in your trial in 2000...what a remarkable and impressive woman she must have been."
She said she felt the crime justified a minimum term of 34 years but because Craig had already served nearly 19 years, this would be factored in from the sentence. The judge commended Ms Kirk's family in court "for all they have endured and the way they have stood by her and cared for her over this long and difficult period."
The judge described Craig's actions as "callous and brutal" and referred to a "level of sadism and extreme nature of the attack". She told him: "You had caused her death by setting fire to her and as the jury unanimously found, you had murdered her.
"Jacqui's death caused unimaginable pain for her children and family - I want to pay tribute to the courage for their victim personal statements, eloquently describing their mother and their loss." The judge said she thought Ms Kirk would be proud of how her children had handled themselves during the case.
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