A handout photograph released in London on June 18, 2009 shows Jack the Ripper murders published in the Illustrated Police News
IN PHOTO: A handout photograph released in London on June 18, 2009 shows Jack the Ripper murders published in the Illustrated Police News, on October 27, 1888. Think the heinous crimes, disastrous wars and seemingly never-ending financial scandals of recent years are something new? Then think again. Courtesy of the British Library, readers can now immerse themselves in vivid newspaper accounts of a 19th Century society that appears to have changed little from today's chaotic world. Evocative descriptions of children as young as nine smoking and getting drunk, a banking collapse in 1878 and first-hand reports of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 can all be pored over for free online. REUTERS/British Library/Handout (BRITAIN) CRIME LAW SOCIETY) NO COMMERCIAL OR BOOK SALES. NO SALES. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS Reuters

Sydney man Micheal John Duffy has been sentenced to a maximum of 12 years of imprisonment for manslaughter involving his girlfriend and his lover.

Duffy’s girlfriend Rachael Evans has pleaded guilty to the murder of Colleen Deborah Ayers who was having a sexual encounter with Duffy when Evans strangled her with a belt. Duffy held Ayers down while Evans committed the murder in 2012.

The judge found Duffy having showed “callous disregard” for what he had done to Ayers that caused her “gruesome and apparently pointless death.” Duffy apologised to Ayers’ family in court but the family felt the apology came too late.

"They are still alive and will be released one day,” Nine MSN quoted Ayers' stepmother Judith Green as saying. “Debbie will never be released from the horror of her death." She said Ayers was a “free spirited young woman who met evil and never realised it.”

Duffy earlier admitted he had buried Ayers under five centimetres of soil on her parents' property. However, he said he had not played any role in the murder, adding that it was Evans’ “twisted desire to kill” Ayers who had met with the couple at a pub a couple of days before her murder.

Later that night, Ayers had a threesome with Duffy and Evans in a hotel room after having indulged in drugs. Evans asked an unnamed teenager to film the sexual encounter while Ayers was tied up.

Next day, Ayers invited the couple and another man at her parents’ property while her parents were away. More drugs and alcohol were involved in the party but, according to the teenage witness, Evans had “lost the plot” when she heard Ayers having sex with her boyfriend.

"I'm going to do it," The Australian quoted the teenager who heard Evans saying so. Evans killed Ayers and washed her body in the shower to remove Duffy’s DNA.

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