A manipulative woman murdered her boyfriend after tying him up and strangling him with an extension lead as she flirted and sexted with a new man.
Charlotte Dootson, 25, sent an image of Mohammed Mukhtar, 53, to the man while he was bound by his hands, feet and neck with extension leads.
He was tied up for more two hours before she killed him. Mr Mukhtar, described as being 'harmless' and 'vulnerable', had suffered domestic abuse at Dootson's hand for years, Manchester Evening News reports.
She had repeatedly attacked him during a campaign of cruelty, and at the time she murdered him Dootson, a former drug addict with a personality disorder, was under investigation for allegedly strangling him with a cable extension.
Prior to killing him, she also either kicked or stamped on him and caused a life threatening injury to his liver.
Now Dootson has been jailed for life to serve a minimum of 22-and-a-half years after admitting murdering Mr Mukhtar, known to his family as Amin, in his own flat in Miles Platting.
A judge said Dootson's behaviour was 'not far from sadistic'. "The manner of Mohammed Mukhtar's death, his humiliation and prolonged suffering taken together with the history of abuse are significant factors that increase the seriousness of this offence very nearly to that level," Judge Patrick Field QC said at a Manchester Crown Court sentencing hearing.
Addressing Dootson, Mr Mukhtar's sister Fozia said: "There is no punishment that you could ever receive that will ever compare to the pain that you have caused us as a family. As a family we want answers.
"I am not sure that we will ever know, but please know that we will never be able to get over what you have done and how you did it. It is just pure evil and callous.
"Amin was a timid guy, he was just so quiet and kind, he wouldn't hurt anyone and he did not deserve what you did to him." The pair started a relationship in 2017 and Dootson quickly became abusive, verbally and physically.
Mr Mukhtar, who had mental health issues and problems with the synthetic cannabinoid spice, suffered serious injuries and needed medical treatment. But he would make excuses for Dootson, lie to protect her or refuse to support a prosecution.
Dootson had been arrested three times on suspicion of assaulting Mr Mukhtar, and on one occasion she spent a month in custody before the case was ultimately thrown out after he refused to support the prosecution. Her attacks 'intensified in frequency and seriousness' prior to the murder in August last year, prosecutor Alaric Bassano said.
In the week prior to the killing, Dootson had struck up a relationship with a man online. On the morning of August 30, while she was with Mr Mukhtar in his flat on Droitwich Road, they flirted with each other and exchanged sexual images and messages.
They also called each other and at one point the man heard Dootson shouting and becoming angry, telling Mr Mukhtar 'I will teach you not to do it again'. At 8.39am, she sent the man a picture of Mr Mukhtar sitting on a sofa in the living room, his hands and feet tied up with extension leads, with another extension lead wrapped repeatedly around his neck.
Mr Mukhtar was tied up for more than two hours before he was killed. As he remained bound, Dootson began exchanging sexually explicit texts and messages with the man.
At 11.14am, Dootson messaged him saying: "I've done something bad, I mean bad bad, I need to run." Then five minutes later she called her father.
"I think I've killed him," she said. "I think he's dead, he's not breathing, not moving."
He told her to put Mr Mukhtar in the recovery position, give him CPR and 999, but Dootson refused and said this would alert the police.
About half an hour later she called a friend of Mr Mukhtar and told him: "I've killed Mohammed. I've tied him with the extension lead, from his neck with the extension lead."
Paramedics went to Mr Mukhtar's flat and found him unresponsive. He was no longer tied up, but had ligature marks on his neck. He was declared dead at 1.04pm.
Dootson, who had twice withdrew 'modest' sums of cash using Mr Mukhtar's bank card, was arrested on Lower Broughton Street in Salford at 1.30pm.
"I haven't murdered anyone," she claimed to arresting officers.
The day after, she told a police officer: "Just like I told Mohammed I'll murder him, and look where he is now."
After her father asked Dootson why he'd killed Mr Mukhtar, she replied: "I’d had enough."
Defending, Tim Storrie QC argued that Dootson had not intended to kill Mr Mukhtar, but the judge said this was inconsistent with the evidence.
Mr Storrie said Dootson's personality disorder meant she had a reduced ability to function in 'normal terms'.
She has been the victim of 'brutish manipulation' and been homeless and isolated, and has now stabilised without drink or drugs in prison, Mr Storrie said. Dootson, of no fixed address, will have to serve at least 22-and-a-half years in jail before she can be considered for parole.
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