Knife killer jailed for 37 years

An "exceptionally dangerous" woman who attacked two strangers with a knife has been jailed for at least 37 years.

Nicola Edgington, 32, killed grandmother Sally Hodkin, 58, and tried to kill artist Kerry Clark, 22. She had also stabbed her mother to death six years earlier, but was released to live in the community.

Edgington suffered a sudden relapse in her mental health, two years after being released from a mental unit, in October 2011. She was taken to a local A&E department in south-east London but walked out after becoming annoyed at being kept waiting.

She took a bus to Bexleyheath and attacked the two strangers who were going to work. When Miss Clark grabbed the blade and kicked her away, Edgington ran to a butcher's shop and grabbed a larger knife.

She attacked Mrs Hodkin, a law firm accounts clerk, with such force that she almost decapitated her.

She was found guilty at the Old Bailey last month of murdering Mrs Hodkin and attempting to murder Miss Clark.

John Cooper, QC, mitigating, said she was a woman in crisis and had not been given the help she asked for.

But the Recorder of London, Judge Brian Barker, said Edgington should take responsibility and stop blaming others.

He jailed her for life with a minimum term of 37 years for murder and gave her a concurrent sentence of life with a minimum term of 20 years for attempted murder.

Judge Barker told Edgington her behaviour had been "consistent and calculated".