Killer has a sex changeRUTHLESS Mansfield killer Stephen Clarke ††caged for life for the infamous 'wheelie bin murder' ††has sparked controversy by having a sex change on the NHS it was revealed this week.
Callous Clarke (38) is now living as a woman under the name Steph at an all-male open prison in Buckinghamshire as he prepares for a full sex change operation.
The Pleasley man stabbed his boyfriend, Christopher Vitel, 51 times in 1991 and dumped his body in a wheelie bin before going on a spending spree with his victim's credit cards.
The brutal murder sent shock waves through the community and led to trial judge Mr Justice Tucker dubbing Clarke as a 'determined, ruthless and devious young man'.
News of Clarke's shock new life has sparked outrage from his victim's family who still live in the Mansfield area.
Christopher's sister-in-law Karen Buxton, of The Park, told Chad: "I think it is despicable he's able to do what he's doing. He has taken a life away and his is ongoing. Now he is going to change his life round altogether and start from new."
Clarke killed the 26-year-old in February 1991 and then posed as Vitel in order to run up an £8,000 bill on his victim's credit cards and sell his car.
The body was found outside Vitel's Howard Road home by his brother Stephen and Clarke was accused of killing him in order to fund a trip to the USA to see a former boyfriend.
Clarke always denied the murder saying the credit card fraud had been agreed between the pair as they needed the money and a cut to his hand had been caused when he was attacked in Titchfield Park.
A jury at Clarke's first murder trial failed to reach a decision, but a second trial saw the prosecution put fresh evidence before the court and this time he was found guilty.
Now the latest news about the killer ††and reports that he could be freed within the next year ††have stirred up painful memories and feelings for his victim's family.
Ms Buxton told Chad the news had been particularly hard on Christopher's family, especially his mother Dorothy.
"He was literally like an angel," Ms Buxton said. "He was just the perfect person who you just don't find in this day and age. That's what I'll never understand ††how he could do this too him.
"It was just why, why Chris? Why did it have to be him? It's the way he did it ††it's incomprehensible."
Clarke is one of 50 life sentence prisoners at the Spring Hill open prison, which runs a resettlement programme where offenders work in the community in full paid employment.
Ms Buxton said: "It really isn't fair. If he is given a life sentence he should not, after 13 or 14 years, be able to say 'I'm coming out and I'm having a sex change'. Life should mean life."
A prison service spokesman this week said prisoners seeking sex change treatment would be assessed in accordance with NHS guidelines.