A man has been jailed for life for murdering an artist while she was out walking her dog in Kent.
Claire Knights, 54, disappeared on 23 August 2023, having left her home in Upstreet near Canterbury to walk her dog Zebulon in the Minnis Bay area of Birchington.
The brown and white spaniel was found alive – but she remained missing and a search party was launched.
Her body was found by members of her family while they were out looking for her two days later.
Harrison Lawrence Van-Pooss, 21, of Margate, was sentenced to 25-and-a-half years in prison at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday, after pleading guilty to her murder.
The court previously heard Van-Pooss ambushed Ms Knights while she was walking back to her car from the beach, before sexually assaulting and killing her.
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He concealed her body and then took her dog to a nearby shop to buy it treats before abandoning it. He slept in a makeshift camp that night where detectives later found the dog treats and a bottle of rum.
The 21-year-old was also sentenced to one month in prison for upskirting in a separate incident that happened the day before Ms Knight’s murder. The sentence will be served concurrently.
