'Monster' partner who beat and stabbed EastEnders actress Sian Blake and two sons to death jailed for LIFEThe "monster" partner of a former EastEnders actress will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing her and their two children after he found out she was leaving him.
Arthur Simpson-Kent used a small axe to hit ex-soap star Sian Blake and their two young children, Zachary, eight, and four-year-old Amon, on the head and knock them unconcious.
All three were then stabbed in the neck or throat before he wrapped their bodies in plastic and buried them in shallow graves in the garden of their dilapidated home in Erith, Kent.
The former hairdresser and model the painted the walls of the bungalow to cover up splatters of blood before fleeing to his native Ghana.
He was tracked to a coconut plantation weeks later and told cops Sian had asked him to end her life and he'd ran away to kill himself.
There were tears in the public gallery as Mr Justice Singh said he had been left "in no doubt" that the part-time drug dealer should die in prison.
Handing down the whole life sentence, he told the court: "The evidence is inconsistent with any thoughts Sian Blake wished to have her life terminated or agreed for Arthur Simpson-Kent to take her life.
"The manner in which the defendant killed his victims is truly horrific."
He told Sian's family: "Nothing I say can begin to compensate for their tragic loss but I offer all my sincere sympathies."
As the impassive triple-killer looked on, the judge told the court: "In my judgment this was indeed a case where each murder involved a substantial degree of premeditation or planning.
"At the very least that must be true of the murder of each of the two little boys individually, and in turn after the defendant had already killed Sian Blake.
"Further, and in any event, there were serious aggravating features of this case.
"Each of the victims was particularly vulnerable because of age or disability. There was an abuse of position of trust. There was concealment of the bodies. He made efforts to remove evidence of his crimes at the house, including repainting.
"He sought to lay a false trail by using Sian Blake's mobile phone. He lied to the police and others about the whereabouts of the family."