14:05SOPHIE CORCORAN
Sentencing due to start soon
Allen is appearing via video link from HMP Wakefield.
14:27SOPHIE CORCORAN
Mr Justice Goose has entered the courtroom
Gary Allen will now be sentenced.
14:31SOPHIE CORCORAN
Allen was 24 at the time Samantha was killed
Samantha's children were just 11, 4, and 2 at the time she was killed, prosecuting, Alistair MacDonald has told the court.
Samantha's oldest, her daughter, will read out a victim personal statement. A letter she sent to DCI Ken Bates when she was just 11 has been read out.
It said: "I would like to see the photo just to know what he looks like because sometimes I thought he would come back and get me and it is really to clear my mind and answer a lot of questions."
14:34SOPHIE CORCORAN
Samantha's daughter reads out her victim personal statement
She told the court: "Samantha Class is a name you know as a sex worker, no more than a job description. Samantha was a woman, a daughter, a sister and an aunt.
"For those who knew my mum, she had everyone's heart who met her. It broke our hearts as children, and as adults.
"We had such a short space of time together before she was taken from us. She has been missing from our lives. I understood everything, the 6 O'clock news, the press releases. You can see from the letter that I was just a frightened little girl.
"I had questions about what happened throughout my life. My mum violently lost her life. Our family unit was broken to pieces and so many memories were taken away. He took her life but not just hers. Two women, over two decades.
"Another two women escaped his hands.
"For 24 years I have had questions with no justice. This has ended with him being finally convicted and facing justice. Never again will he be able to hurt another woman."
She has thanked the police, the undercover officers, the prosecution team and the jury, who she said "are the best of the best who tried for my mum, her family and her friends."
14:37SOPHIE CORCORAN
Alena's husband's statement
Mr MacDonald is reading the statement.
It says: "After our split, she lived a chaotic lifestyle and our children chose to live with me. I recalled the last time I saw her in December 2018. She looked vulnerable, I felt sorry for her. She made it clear at that time her intention to return to Slovakia. She was desperate to turn her life around. She promised our children. She has been taken away from our children.
"I never thought that would be our last time as a family. My children have had to endure anxiety and pain and have suffered nightmares and trauma. The murder of her has not only affected us, but her family in Slovakia, who she remained close to.
"It was her mother who initially raised the alarm about her being missing as a result of no contact. Her mother has suffered greatly with her mental health and cannot come to terms with her leaving Slovakia for a better life in the UK and meeting such a tragic end.
"Nothing can ever change what happened or bring Alena back to life."
14:41SOPHIE CORCORAN
It was "luck" that Samantha's body washed up
Mr MacDonald says it was just luck that Samantha's body did not go out into the North Sea and that Allen tried to conceal her body.
He says Samantha was vulnerable as a sex worker.
"He had a deep seated hatred for sex workers, we submit. He developed his violent fantasies from the age of 12." Mr MacDonald added.
He says that Alena was in "desperate need of water and shelter and had no where else to go."
Mr MacDonald said: "She was the sort of vulnerable woman he knew he was not allowed to associate with due to his sexual harm prevention order."
14:42SOPHIE CORCORAN
''Allen represents significant risk'
Mr MacDonald said:"The defendant represents a very significant risk to members of the public, women and sex workers in particular.
"His attitude towards sex workers and the Plymouth attacks aggrivate the seriousness of the offences. He repeatedly breached the sexual prevention order, posing a risk of serious violence by him upon sex workers."
14:46SOPHIE CORCORAN
'Unlikely Allen will ever be considered for parole'
Katherine Goddard, mitigating, said: "Given his age, and what was referred to as the mindset evidence, it is extremely unlikely that he will ever be considered for parole, whatever minimum term is imposed."
14:50SOPHIE CORCORAN
'No evidence Allen knew Alena was a sex worker'
Ms Goddard says he has not been charged with breaching his order by having contact with Alena.
She said: "It may make little difference in the overall circumstances of the case that in the identified aggravating features, that is the only one we take issue with."
14:54SOPHIE CORCORAN
Allen has 'deep seated warped view of sex workers'
Justice Goose said: "You have been convicted of the murders of two women 21 years apart.
"You thought you had got away with murder, but today your past has caught up with you. This jury has, on overwhleming evidence, convidcted you on both murders.
"You are an extremely dangerous man with a long-held, deep seated, warped view of women, in particular sex workers.
"It would not be an overstatement to say that what you did to those two women and the suffreing to their families was wicked."
14:58SOPHIE CORCORAN
Allen given life sentence
Justice Goose is outlining Samantha's murder.
He said: "She was found partly submerged in the mud. At Melton, the police also found blood staining from her. How she came to be in the estuary, only you can say but you lied about that as you did in that trial in 2000.
"You had sexual intercouse, most probably in your car. You attacked her with savage violence, including using a ligature to strangle her, and your car which you used to run over her, before disposing of her. It was a brutal, callous murder of a woman you thought had no value because of her job as a sex worker.
"You told the police and jury in your first trial that you had not seen her again after she walked away from you in Hull but that was a lie.
"Within weeks of being acquitted you approached two sex workers in Plymouth, asked them for sex before attacking them. You were disturbed by others. It is highly likely they escaped serious injuries, probably worse."
15:00SOPHIE CORCORAN
Probation interviews
A probation worker said: "He described prositutes as being scum and the lowest of the low. He said he planned the attacks and said he targeted prostitutes and they were easy targets and 'I just want to hurt people. I enjoy thinking about it and I get pleasure from thinking. I just really enjoy different types of violence.'"
Justice Goose says about Operation Misty: "You made admissions that you had murdered Samantha Class. While it wasn't enough to bring a trial on its own, it has been important evidence to bring about your conviction in this trial."
15:07SOPHIE CORCORAN
Minimum term
Speaking about the statements read out to the court today, Justice Goose said the hurt caused by Allen is palpable.
He added: "There is little that can be said in mitigation. I must set seperate, concurrent, minimum terms.
"I find the following substantial aggravating factors. First, in both murders there was a significant degree of planning. Your mindset towards sex workjers suggests you targeted your victims.
"Second, the violence before Samantha died and the third, what you did to her after she died by running her over.
"Your disposal of your evidence, such as the car in Samantha's murder and the trowel in Alena's murder.
"Taking into account those and any mitigation, the minimum term you must serve in count 1, 30 years and count 2, 37 years."
15:08SOPHIE CORCORAN
Allen must serve 37 years before being released
Justice Goose said: "You must serve 37 years, less 624 days you have served on remand.
"You may go."
Allen showed no emotion as he left the room where he was being held at HMP Wakefield.
The judge has commended the dedication of the police officers who have "played a vital part in bringing Gary Allen to justice.
"The work of the undercover officers, Ian Sean and Scott must receive the highest commendation."
