A paedophile who killed a 13-year-old girl to stop her from revealing the abuse he had put her through has been jailed for life as a court heard of his shocking history of violence.
Stephen Nicholson, 25, stabbed Lucy McHugh 27 times in an ‘execution style’ killing because he feared she would expose him.
He first raped Lucy when she was just 12 and he was living at her family home in Southampton. He then abused her repeatedly until he murdered her in July last year.
Nicholson, who has the word ‘freedom’ tattooed across his forehead, was today ordered to serve at least 33 years in prison before he can apply for parole.
The court heard the killer has a history of violence, starting when he took staff and youngsters at his children’s home hostage at knife point when he just 15.
Judge Mrs Justice May today questioned just how thorough social services investigations were into Lucy’s situation before she was killed.
Care worker Stephen Nicholson lured schoolgirl Lucy McHugh to woodland near her home in Southampton before stabbing her almost 30 times. The killer is pictured (right) on CCTV, carrying a Tesco bag on the day of Lucy’s death
Lucy McHugh (pictured) was murdered ‘execution-style’ by Stephen Nicholson as he feared she would expose his sadistic abuse
Jailing Nicholson, the judge said: ‘The evidence in this trial did not cover what enquiries the investigations covered. [Social services] had investigated but found nothing that concerned them.
‘The obvious question is how they arrived at these conclusions not once but twice, given what she was telling people.’
Earlier today, Prosecutor William Mousley QC told the court that, ten years ago, Nicholson, then 15, took amphetamines and armed himself with knives before holding staff and residents at a children’s home hostage.
He then stole £1,000 while holding a blade to a female resident’s throat and made off in a staff member’s car, before being caught by police.
While serving two years in a youth detention centre for that incident, he and two fellow inmates barricaded themselves in a canteen before he again armed himself with a knife tried to stab a prison guard.
The jury at his current trial also had also found him guilty of persuading a 14-year-old girl to have sex with him in 2012 as ‘part payment’ for a tattoo. The crime took place in the same woods where Lucy was murdered.
Speaking after Nicholson was jailed for life today, Lucy’s father, Andy McHugh, said: ‘I am happy with the result, at the end of the day he is serving life and unless he shows remorse he will never get out.’
Lucy’s father Andy McHugh (left) described how the murder had left him facing ‘an emptiness that will never be filled’. The victim’s mother Stacey White (right) brought up Lucy and her 12-year-old brother Dylan after the breakdown of her relationship with Mr McHugh
Speaking outside court today, Mr McHugh said he was pleased with Nicholson’s life sentence
Killer paedophile’s history of violence
2009 – Nicholson, aged 15 and high on drugs, arms himself with knives and takes two adult staff member of a children’s home hostage. He then rounded up the other children, including one with learning disabilities, and corralled them into the room. He held a knife to the throat of one and stole £1,000 before taking off in a vehicle.
2010 – Nicholson is jailed for false imprisonment, affray, possession of a knife in a public place, theft, damage to property, aggravated vehicle taking and another associated driving offence. While in jail, he tried to stab a prison guard.
2012 – Following his release, he persuaded a 14-year-old girl to have sex with him as ‘part payment’ for a tattoo.
2017 – His sexual abuse of Lucy McHugh begins.
2018 – He murders Lucy, whose body is later found in woodland by a walker.
Describing the crime, the judge said: ‘Lucy was described as bright, bubbly, intelligent and eager to learn. Her grandmother said her nickname was ‘Brains’ because of how quick she was.
‘She was also vulnerable and newly romantic and this made her an easy target for someone looking to satisfy his own appetites. The man who took her life was just such a person.
‘It seems Lucy developed a crush on Nicholson. Instead of rebuffing her, he encouraged her to continue her interest in him. She was available and he took full advantage.
‘Nicholson used and abused Lucy. She had ceased to be of interest to him and had become an obstacle to his comfortable life.
‘There was also the real risk of her making good on her threat to out him as a paedophile. As far as he was concerned, she had to go.’
Lucy’s body was found with 27 stab wounds in secluded woodland at Southampton Sports Centre on July 26 last year.
Detectives believe Nicholson may have tried to disguise the murder as suicide.
Having moved out of Lucy’s home only days earlier, the killer launched the ‘controlled and repetitive’ attack in a bid to silence the schoolgirl, who had incorrectly told him she was pregnant.
Prosecutor William Mousley told the trial: ‘The cat was going to be let out of the bag.’ Nicholson had been offered a bed in Lucy’s home by her ‘stepfather’ Richard Elmes, 22, who was his childhood friend.
The court has heard Lucy suffered almost 30 knife wounds in a brutal, frenzied attack, with three ‘very dangerous’ cuts to the carotid artery in her neck which caused her death
Facebook took a year to hand over crucial evidence
Facebook handed over crucial evidence to police investigating the death of a schoolgirl an entire year after being asked, it can be revealed.
The refusal by the tech company to hand over messages between Lucy McHugh and her killer Stephen Nicholson in the hours before her death forced police into a torturous legal process.
After months of pleading for assistance, Facebook only handed over the information on the day that Nicholson was due to stand trial at Winchester Crown Court.
The company’s refusal to unlock the killer’s account prompted widespread calls for reform over how quickly social media companies provide information during criminal investigations.
Britain’s top police officer Cressida Dick said technology firms should be forced to assist with crucial evidence in criminal cases ‘within minutes’.
Prosecutors and police yesterday said that if Facebook had supplied the information sooner, its wide-ranging investigation may have been much easier.
Nicholson was jailed in August 2018 for 14 months for refusing to reveal his Facebook password to police investigating Lucy’s murder.
Also living in the property at the time of Lucy’s death was her mother Stacey White, 31, who brought up Lucy and her 12-year-old brother Dylan after the breakdown of her relationship with Andy McHugh, 37.
While at the house, Nicholson sold cannabis and kept pets including tarantulas, a gecko, pythons and a boa constrictor.
His abuse was detailed in distressing diary entries and letters written by Lucy that were discovered only after her death In one note entitled ‘abuse’, Lucy wrote that he would ‘make me… rape me anyway’ before detailing how she was forced to lock herself in the bathroom to avoid sex.
Other entries in the diary described how Nicholson, who spent several of his teenage years in a youth prison for holding somebody at knifepoint, choked her during sex.
At the time of the abuse, the ‘vulnerable’ schoolgirl was receiving mental health care and had also been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Southampton City Council had launched an urgent serious incident review after teachers were warned Lucy had a ‘boyfriend’ ten years older than her.
But social services dropped their inquiries after Lucy’s mother insisted she was not in danger.
Emma Wright, an assistant head at St Anne’s Catholic girls school, had contacted them in June 2017. When Lucy moved to Redbridge Community School in year eight, teachers made a further referral to social services.
A schoolfriend’s mother then raised concerns but Lucy’s own mother allegedly claimed her daughter was living in a ‘fantasy land’ and simply had a ‘crush’.
Stephen Nicholson repeatedly stabbed 13-year-old Lucy to the neck and upper body at Southampton Sports Centre before leaving her to die in July last year
CCTV footage of the 13-year-old’s final movements which showed Lucy, wearing leggings and a white top, walking from her home in the direction of the sports centre as she was lured to her death at 9am on July 25, 2018
Police eventually found a bag of Lucy’s bloodied clothing containing Nicholson’s DNA beside a stream a mile from the murder scene.
Nicholson has now been exposed as a ‘cold and calculated paedophile’ who pursued a string of underage victims.
Police suspect he used his skills as a tattoo artist and his access to cannabis to lure and groom other young victims.
Last night, Lucy’s grieving family questioned why social workers did not spot she was in grave danger despite the repeated warnings being raised up to a year before her death.
Lucy’s paternal grandfather Keith McHugh, 65, said the failure to investigate caused the family ‘a lot’ of concern.
He added: ‘The school did their bit [by flagging the case] but social services did not do their bit.’
Detective Superintendent Paul Barton said: ‘I would describe Nicholson as cold and calculated. I would describe him as a paedophile. He has targeted Lucy, taken advantage of her and when she wanted a relationship with him, he has taken the decision to silence her once and for all by brutally killing her.’
