'Ruthless' killers given life without parole for Vietnamese mother's murder

Two convicted killers have been told they will never be freed after torturing and murdering a Vietnamese mother-of-two while out on licence.

Stephen Unwin, 40, and William McFall, 51, killed Quyen Ngoc Nguyen after a four-hour ordeal and put her body in her car before setting it alight last August.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the 28-year-old woman had been lured to Unwin's home in Shiney Row near Sunderland, where McFall lay in wait.

Unwin went on to rape the nail technician, who was just 5ft tall and weighed seven stone (45kg).

Mr Justice Morris ruled they should never be released, sentencing both men to whole-life jail terms.

The judge said: "Stephen Unwin, you are a calculating, manipulating and ruthless killer.

"William John McFall, you are an extremely violent man capable of monstrous behaviour."

McFall shouted from the dock: "That's your personal opinion."

The victim's sister, Quynh Ngoc Nguyen, 35, had earlier read a victim statement, saying: "We cannot comprehend how men like this can live freely in this country.

"My sister believed, as I did, that you came to this country for a safer life, with better opportunities for herself and her children."

She said their parents and her sister's two children had been left heartbroken by the actions of the murderers.

"They did not act like human beings, they are evil," she said.

Unwin had a history of setting fires to destroy evidence at the scenes of his crimes.

He battered a pensioner to death during a break-in at his home on Christmas Day 1998 and the fire he started to cover his tracks meant the victim could only be identified by his medical records.

Unwin admitted murder, was sentenced to life and was released on licence in December 2012.

He met McFall in the prison system where he was also serving life for murdering a pensioner.

McFall attacked his victim with a hammer after she disturbed him breaking into her home in Carrickfergus in May 1996. He was jailed for life and released on licence in October 2010.

Jamie Hill QC told the court: "In cases where a defendant has been convicted of murder for a second time, normally the starting point for sentence would be a whole life order.

"In the common parlance, life without parole."