Claire Tiltman was murdered on 18 January 1993 in Greenhithe, Kent, England. On 12 December 2014, Colin Ash-Smith was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 21 years for her murder.
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Murder
16-year-old Claire took a short cut down an alleyway on her way to meet a friend. Just 100 steps from the safety of a busy main road, she was stabbed 40 times in an apparently random attack. In February 2014, a man was charged with the murder. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it had sufficient evidence to prosecute 45-year-old Colin Ash-Smith. When Colin Ash-Smith was in Wakefield Prison for attacks on two other women, he told a fellow prisoner (Stefen Dubois, real name Molliere), about an attack on a zebra crossing and his “snapping” and stabbing her multiple times. The confession proved to be crucial to bringing him to justice for the murder of Claire. Ash-Smith had been jailed in 1996 for a knife attack on two women in 1988 and 1995, one of whom had been stabbed 14 times. He had admitted stabbing the young women, for which he had been jailed, and leaving them for dead, although both survived.
Conviction
On 12 December 2014, Colin Ash-Smith, aged 46, was jailed for life for murdering Claire in 1993. He had first been questioned about Claire's murder in 1995. He was charged on the day he was due to be considered for release by the parole board, after serving three life sentences for previous attacks on two women. He was told he would spend a minimum of 21 years behind bars by Mr Justice Sweeney. A number of Claire's school friends were in the gallery to hear the sentencing. Following his conviction, detectives branded Ash-Smith as 'pure evil' and said he should never be freed. Jaswant Narwal, CPS South East Chief Crown Prosecutor, called the case "one of the most complex cases" CPS South East has dealt with in recent years.
Claire's parents, Linda and Cliff, both died of cancer before her killer could be brought to justice. She was their only child and they had been convinced Ash-Smith had murdered their daughter. Her uncle, Roger Tiltman, said her heartbroken parents were racked with guilt at her killing and the stress of it drove them both to early graves. In a victim impact statement, her uncle said: "The fact they allowed her out on the night of her death caused them a massive amount of pain.”
Ash-Smith was first questioned in 1995. In 1988, he had tried to rape and murder a young mother in a quarry. In 1995 he stabbed 22-year-old Charlotte Barnard 14 times, close to where he killed Claire. He had denied attacking Claire, and had attended his victim's funeral a month after the killing with his Labour councillor parents, wearing the same beige jacket he wore the night of the murder.
Suspect
The only child of Aubrey and Diane Ash-Smith, Colin Ash-Smith was aged 25 at the time of Tiltman's murder. He worked as a milkman and lived with his parents in Swanscombe. According to the CPS, Ash-Smith developed a pattern after the murder and set up false alibis on four different occasions as well as increasing the ferocity and severity in his attacks. He is current imprisoned at HMP Durham.
His mother, Diane, was a former Labour Party councillor and later mayor,. She told police that he had been driving her home at the time of the attack on Claire. In 1997 she said neither she, her husband, or son had had anything to do with Claire's killing.
His late father, Aubrey (died May 2016), also a former Labour Party councillor, was jailed for 12 months in 1997 for perverting the course of justice. He had destroyed a knife just before the family home was due to be searched by police. He had admitted he boiled, dismantled and threw away a knife to destroy evidence. Colin was denied a Special Purpose Licence to attend his father's funeral after news that he could potentially be allowed a temporary release to do so was met with public outcry on social media. Instead he was allowed to send a floral tribute.
In November 2015 Ash-Smith launched an appeal against his conviction on the grounds at Mr Justice Sweeney had wrongly allowed "gravely prejudicial" material to go before the jury. However, it was rejected by Lord Justice Davis and two other Lords Justice of Appeal.
In popular culture
Ash-Smith's conviction was among the cases featured in the BBC Four three-part documentary The Prosecutors, which showcases the CPS's work and the legal procedures behind a prosecution. The documentary was commended by the Radio Times as well as one of Tiltman's school friends who had testified at Ash-Smith's trial.