‘Wicked’ double murderer Gary Allen may never be released

‘EXTREMELY DANGEROUS’: Gary Allen

A double murderer who brutally killed two women 21 years apart could die in jail after a judge said it may never be safe to release him.

Gary Allen, 47, was told he was “extremely dangerous” when he was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court today for the murders of Samantha Class in Hull in 1997, and Alena Grlakova in Rotherham in 2018.

Allen had previously stood trial for the murder of Ms Class in 2000 but was acquitted. Both his victims were mothers and sex workers.

He was given mandatory life sentences in respect of both murder convictions, and must serve a minimum of 37 years before he can apply for parole.

Allen was convicted of both murders last week following a trial at the same court.

Sentencing Allen, Mr Justice Goose told him: “Gary Arthur Allen, you are aged 47. You have been convicted of the murder of two women, 21 years apart.

“In 1997 you murdered Samantha Class, for which you were tried in this Crown Court in 2000, and because of your lies, you were acquitted. You thought that you had got away with that murder, but today your past has caught up with you.

“Then in 2018 you murdered another woman, Alena Grlakova. Again, you tried to lie your way out of the murder, but this jury has, on overwhelming evidence, convicted you of both murders.

“You are an extremely dangerous man, with a long held, deep-seated and warped view of women, particularly of sex workers.

“I am satisfied that you fantasise and plan serious violence to sex workers, intending that they should suffer and be killed. It would not be an overstatement to say that what you did to those two women, and the loss and suffering to their families, was wicked.”

FANTASISED ABOUT HURTING SEX WORKERS: Gary Allen

He added: “On the basis of what I have seen and heard in this trial, I doubt that it will ever be safe to release you into the community.”

Samantha was a 29-year-old a single mother-of-three when she was killed, and was a sex worker in Hull.

She had gone out to work on the evening of Saturday, October 25, 1997, when Allen, who was 24, pulled up in his car at midnight and asked her for sex.

She got in and Allen drove away. Samantha was not seen alive again.

MOTHER OF THREE: Samantha Class

The next morning her body was found by schoolchildren on the foreshore of the River Humber in North Ferriby, about eight miles away.

She was partially submerged in the mud and some of her clothing, including a shoe, her knickers and tights, was missing. They were found several days later, upstream, on the foreshore near Melton.

Police also found blood staining from Samantha in that location. The judge said only Allen knew how she came to be in the Humber Estuary, but he had lied about it in both trials.

The judge said it was obvious from the evidence and the post-mortem examination that Allen had sex with Samantha, probably in his car, which he quickly disposed of in a scrapyard afterwards.

Allen attacked her with “savage violence”, causing 33 external injuries, or clusters of injuries, to her head and body, as well as severe internal injuries and multiple rib fractures.

He used a ligature to strangle her to death, then drove over her when she was face down after her heart had stopped beating. He then dumped her body in the Humber.

A boot found by police during the original Samantha Class murder investigation

“It was a brutal, callous murder of a woman you thought had no value because she was a sex worker,” the judge told him.

Allen was arrested for Samantha’s murder the following year after his DNA was taken when he was stopped for drink-driving. He literally thought he had got away with murder following his acquittal in 2000.

Allen then moved to Plymouth, where within weeks he committed two separate violent attacks against sex workers. He received an extended sentence for those offences.

In 2003, following his release on licence, Allen revealed to two probation officers his attitude to sex workers, the court heard.

One reported of him: “He spoke openly about his strong dislike of prostitutes… He described prostitutes as being ‘scum’ and ‘the lowest of the low’.

“Gary admitted to me that he planned and subsequently committed the attacks on the prostitutes in Plymouth. He stated that he targets prostitutes as, ‘They go with anybody’.

“He stated that, ‘The pleasure of hurting builds from the planning stage. Prostitutes are easy targets.

‘I really enjoy violence’

“‘I just want to hurt people, can't tell you how far, you know I can't tell you what I want to do to them. I enjoy thinking about it, I get pleasure from the thinking, I just really enjoy different types of violence’.”

In 2010 and 2011, after he had moved to Grimsby, Allen was caught during an undercover police operation making “clear and unequivocal” admissions to murdering Samantha.

The judge told Allen: “The dedication and professionalism of those undercover officers cannot be overstated.

“Whilst it may have been insufficient on its own at that time to bring about an application to retry you for her murder, it has been very important evidence to bring about your conviction for both murders in this trial.”

By 2018 Allen was aged 45 and living in Rotherham, where he met Alena Grlakova, a 38-year-old married mother-of-four. She had moved to South Yorkshire from Slovakia with her family ten years earlier.

Victim at low point in her life

She was at a very low point in her life when she met Allen, the court heard, having separated from her family and was drinking excessively and taking drugs. She became a sex worker to feed her habit.

Alena visited Allen’s flat in Rawmarsh on a number of occasions, where he had sex with her and gave her drink and other items.

She was last seen alive late in the evening of December 26, 2018.

Earlier that day she had visited Allen’s flat uninvited. He threw her out and threatened her with violence.

What he said was recorded on an MP4 recording device, with Allen shouting that he would “beat the fucking living s**t” out of her.

He also shouted: “I’m knocking the c**p out of you, it’s that f****** simple.”

In the following days Allen began to search for hand trowels and gloves, buying some at a store. He visited the area where Alena’s body was discovered over three months later, in a watercourse or stream, partially buried and naked.

Her head had been “forced into an unnaturally extended position” and her genital area was exposed. Gravel or grit had been placed over parts of her body, together with some stones. Allen had been trying to conceal the body.

She had died from a neck injury and had also been strangled.

Images of dead women found on phone

The judge said it was of “alarming significance” that, consistent with what he had told the probation officers, police found stored images of dead women, some of whom were described as sex workers, and some being strangled with a ligature, on one of Allen’s mobile phones in 2019.

“This confirmed, if confirmation were needed, that your mindset towards sex workers was deeply entrenched in you,” the judge said.

He told the court: “This court, and the members of the public who have attended this hearing, has heard the moving statements made on behalf of the families of Samantha Class and Alena Grlakova.

“It has been their opportunity to tell you, Gary Allen, what you have done to them. The profound and lifelong grief which has been caused to them by your wicked murder of their mother, their wife, their sister or their daughter, is almost palpable.”

The judge set Allen’s minimum term of imprisonment at 37 years, less the 624 days he has spent on remand.

Concluding his sentencing remarks, he said: “Finally, I wish to commend to the relevant authorities the dedication and professionalism of those police officers who have been named in in the prosecution’s note for sentence.

“They have all played a vital part in bringing Gary Allen to justice, but in particular the work of the undercover officers ‘Ian’, ‘Sean’ and ‘Scott’ must receive the highest commendation.”

‘I HOPE THIS BRINGS SOME CLOSURE’: DCI Christine Calvert

In a statement after the hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Christine Calvert, senior investigating officer at Humberside Police, said: “Gary Allen is an extremely dangerous man, particularly to women, and is now exactly where he belongs, in prison.

“Samantha and Alena’s children are without a mum because of what this man did, and he is yet to show any remorse for his actions.

“Their families have waited a long time for this moment, to know that Gary Allen will be behind bars for the rest of his life, unable to cause any further harm and break up anymore family units.

“Whilst his conviction and this sentence don’t bring back their loved ones, I hope now they can begin their healing process and this brings a sense of closure.

“I just once again want to thank them for their strength, courage and dignity in what has been an extremely painful and long ordeal.”