MURDERER Curtis Turpin told the jury at his trial that he was not a fighter by nature and only resorted to strangling to “restrain” people. He was lying.

Strangers, friends and even police were among his victims during many years of violence in York. 

Six years ago, a senior judge wanted to have the power to give him a lengthy sentence - but  on another occasion, Turpin was not locked up after he told a different judge about his paranoia. 

Turpin was on bail for city centre violence with a bottle when he killed Mr McNally and had a long history of violence.

In 2009, Turpin was allowed to keep his freedom after he squeezed a friend’s neck and demanded his wallet. He pleaded guilty to wounding and was given a suspended prison sentence after he told York Crown Court the offence had been linked to his paranoia, for which he was receiving medication.

In 2015 he was jailed – for burglary. He had jemmied his way into a house while on parole for a jail sentence for robbery.

The jury in the murder trial heard how Turpin had put something to the back of a student’s neck during the street mugging.

But they didn’t hear the full details, how Turpin had been masked as had his accomplice, and how the prosecution in that case told York Crown Court they had done it “for the hell of it”.

In 2017, the then Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC, criticised the CPS for not charging Turpin with robbery after Turpin threatened to stab a police community support officer (PCSO) and stealing his bike.

Had the prosecution done so, he said, he would have given Turpin a longer sentence than the 32 months he did hand out – for affray and theft.

By then Turpin had 40 previous convictions and was to accumulate more before he was convicted of murder.

He was locked up so many times that when he was released in early December in 2016 partway through a 27-month prison sentence, he couldn’t cope with the prospect of Christmas at home for the first time in seven years.

He tore off his home detention tag to get himself jailed again and both the Parole Board and York magistrates obliged.

The Parole Board revoked his prison sentence and made him serve the rest of the sentence and York magistrates gave him 14 days for criminal damage to the tag.