Double murderer jailed for stabbing pregnant girlfriend
The man who killed his pregnant girlfriend while he was on license for a previous murder crime was sentenced to at least 42 years in prison.
Alana Odysseos, 32, grew up in Suffolk and was around eight weeks pregnant when she died after being stabbed 19 times with a kitchen knife outside her flat in Walthamstow, east London, on July 22, 2024.
Shaine March, 47, of Surrey Quays, south-east London, initially admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and denied murder, but He pleaded guilty halfway through. through the hearing.
Sentencing at the Old Bailey in early March, the judge, Mr Justice Murray, said he may never be released “given his age and the length of the minimum term”.
Mr Judge Murray, who refused to attend the sentencing hearing in person via video link from HMP Belmarsh, told March: “I’m sure you planned to kill him.”
Alana Odysseos, 32, a mother of two, died after being stabbed 19 times. [Family Handout/PA]
The court heard Ms Odysseos had been in a tumultuous relationship with March for four months before she was murdered, during which neighbors heard constant arguments but there were no external signs of violence.
The probation service in London had arranged for security checks to be carried out but no further action was taken when March told them the relationship between him and Miss Odysseos had ended amicably.
It was March 21 when he fatally stabbed 17-year-old Andre Drummond in the neck, and in July 2000 he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
He was released in early 2013 and recalled to prison the same year after being found guilty of assaulting his then-pregnant girlfriend, and was released again in February 2018.
Odysseos’ sister, Jasmine Yates, told the court she noticed her sister’s mental health was becoming “erratic” and tried to encourage her to leave March and made her delete all male contacts on the phone.
Ms Yates added that March promised Ms Odysseos that she would go to therapy and change, while also leaving voice notes telling her sister to have an abortion.
The court heard Ms Odysseos told a friend she was scared after March smashed a window into her face.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Yates said she told her sister: “If he can glass you, he can kill you. Those words and the aftermath are haunting me.”
Miss Odysseos’ mother, Karen Cronin, told the court: “I loved going to church and singing in the choir but the anger I felt towards her [March] I don’t feel Christian so I don’t go to church anymore.
“I want him to die in prison with no hope of doing this to anyone else.”
During the hearing, the court was shown CCTV footage of him walking away from Ms Odysseos’ flat in March after assaulting her and throwing away evidence including mobile phones and clothes.
Police found March’s phone in the sewers and found a voice note he had recorded just after 3 a.m. ET: “Mom, I just killed a woman and I’m going back to jail.”
CCTV and police body camera footage from the arrest in March showed him repeatedly confessing to killing and stabbing Ms Odysseos.
He also referred to himself as “scum” who deserved to be jailed.
While in custody at Barking Police Station in London, March said: “I stabbed him multiple times with a long kitchen knife.
“I think the last stab was behind his shoulder blade, probably piercing his heart.”
Forensic pathologist Dr Matt Cieka told the court a post-mortem examination showed Ms Odysseos had been stabbed in the back through the heart.
He added that the attack was so “violent” that five of the 19 stab wounds he suffered would have been fatal in themselves.
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