'The thought of what she went through and how she was treated like rubbish. She was a human being'

The family of a mum-of-two who was killed, stripped naked then dumped in a wheelie bin and left there for 12 days by a man whose advances she rejected told a court of their enduring heartbreak, saying she was 'treated like rubbish'.

"She was a human being," Terri Jordan's mother told a judge in an emotive statement as her daughter's killer faced justice.

Mark Metcalfe, 40, went to further efforts to avoid detection, moving her body in the bin and dumping it in a bush close to an Asda supermarket.

Metcalfe was convicted of manslaughter and preventing a lawful burial earlier this year. On Tuesday, he was jailed for 17 years by a judge who told him he had 'refused to tell the truth' about how Terri died.

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Despite the guilty verdicts, Terri's family are still at a loss as to what happened to her in the Harehills area of Leeds. Due to her body not being found for almost two weeks, a pathologist could not determine her cause of death. The prosecution said in court she was assaulted and strangled by Metcalfe, who still denies any wrongdoing and refuses to shed any light on how she lost her life, reports Yorkshire Live.

It was said he had offered Terri drugs before the attack. But by not facing the truth of his crimes, pleading not guilty in court, he put Terri's family through more heartache of not knowing her last moments.

Metcalfe is the only person who knows what happened to Terri on the fateful night of June 12, 2022, and the information he hides is the only thing which could soothe her family and help them to heal.

Terri's mum Geraldine told the court of her torment of not knowing what happened to her daughter.

Jurors had already heard how Metcalfe attacked her after Terri rejected him. Ms Jordan told Leeds Crown Court: "The loss of my daughter has profoundly altered every aspect of my life and the lives of my family. There are no words that can convey the depth of the pain we endure every day.

"It has shattered our family and left us with wounds that will never truly heal...Sitting in the courtroom every day having to listen to how she was found will never leave me. The thought of what she went through and how she was treated like rubbish. She was a human being.

"We still do not know what happened to Terri. I have to wonder for the rest of my life how she died, if she was ever in pain and what her last moments were and her thoughts. Mark Metcalfe has robbed me of my daughter Terri and Terri of her dignity in death and has robbed me of knowing the circumstances of how she died."

Prosecutor John Harrison said the Crown's case was that he had turned violent against Terri after she rejected his advances at his home in Compton Crescent.

His Honour Judge Robin Mairs said Metcalfe had "chosen to lie" despite knowing "very well how Terri Jordan died." He said: "Your concern from first to last was for yourself."

He said Metcalfe has "perhaps benefitted" from the "callous act" of hiding her body and told him: "You have refused to say what happened to Terri Jordan. You have had repeated opportunities to give an account of what happened but you have chosen to lie and you have done so about what happened in that room from that very night all the way to your evidence at trial.

"You know very well how Terri Jordan died and you refuse to tell the truth about it. The only sensible conclusion I can be sure of is she died as a result of an assault from you that may or may not have involved strangulation. I am satisfied you intended harm. That can only be the common sense reason for your lies...Terri Jordan did nothing to be lawfully killed in any manner by you."

The judge described Metcalfe's treatment of Terri's body as "callous" before telling him he must serve two-thirds of his 17-year sentence behind bars.

Metcalfe faces a lengthy term of loneliness, silence and the four walls of his cell. Over time, he might find some remorse and show mercy and tell Terri's family of her last moments. But for now, sinking in his cowardice, he is the only person who truly knows what happened.