Cleaner Vincent Stanford pleads guilty to murder of Stephanie Scott
SCHOOL cleaner Vincent Stanford has pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Leeton schoolteacher Stephanie Scott. His twin brother has already pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact of murder.
NSW
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A SCHOOL cleaner has pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Leeton schoolteacher Stephanie Scott.
Vincent Stanford has entered pleas to charges of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent and murder before Justice Robert Allan Hulme in the Supreme Court this morning.
Ms Scott’s family has travelled to Sydney for the pleas, which were entered via video-link.
The 25-year-old murdered the bride-to-be on April 5 last year, just days before she was due to be married to her childhood sweetheart Aaron Leeson-Woolley.
Stanford was arrested the day before Ms Scott’s body was discovered in the Cocoparra National Park, 70km from Leeton where she was last seen alive preparing lessons plans ahead of her honeymoon.
He will face a sentencing hearing at Griffith Court on October 11, with Justice Hulme indicating he hoped to sentence him in that same week.
His twin Marcus Stanford, from Adelaide Hills, has already pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact of murder, with a date for his sentencing expected to be fixed soon.
Court documents tendered in a previous appearance for both brothers stated that there were email invoices for purchases by Vincent of a knife, plastic handcuffs, Viagra, cleaning products and a training sword.
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Ms Scott’s mother Merrilyn wore a yellow scarf and her sister Robyn carried a yellow handbag, Stephanie’s favourite colour.
They arrived moments before Stanford calmly entered pleas of “guilty” to the two charges and did not comment as they left court.
The agreed statement of facts that Stanford would have signed in recognition of his plea has not yet been tendered to the court.
Earlier this month the court heard a plea offer had been “crystallised” by Stanford.
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