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Emma Gowing talks to the media after Clive Sharp pleaded guilty to her sister Catherine's murder. Peter Byrne/PA Wire
Life Sentence

Emma Gowing: The sentence today means our world is a safer place

Clive Sharp was handed down a life sentence today for the murder of Irish vet, Catherine Gowing, in Wales last year.

“CATHERINE WAS BRUTALLY murdered. That is a fact,” Emma Gowing told waiting media outside Mold Crown Court in Wales earlier following the life sentence of Clive Sharp for murdering her sister in October.

The Irish vet from Offaly was brutally raped, killed, dismembered and disposed of  by the 47-year-old. Her body has never been fully recovered.

Emma said the life sentence handed down to Sharp “means that today our world is a slightly safer place. No other woman will be harmed by the man who murdered my sister. That is a good thing.”

“Catherine conducted her life with love, compassion and integrity,” Emma continued. “Catherine was an exceptional woman, a wonderful daughter sister and friend.”

“She was a beautiful light, she shone very brightly… Her light is gone from our mortal world. She now shines elsewhere.”

According to Sky News, Mr Justice Griffith Williams told Sharp when passing sentence: “This is a horrific, cold hearted murder, carried out to gratify your perverted sexual desires.”

BBC News reports that Justice Griffith-Williams added that he was “a very serious danger to women” and had previously been jailed twice for rape and sexual assaults.

He must serve a minimum of 37 years in jail.

Read: UPDATE: Man sentenced to life for the murder of Catherine Gowing >

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