Mark Buckley jailed for minimum of 31-years for Ellen Higginbottom's murder

Mark Buckley, 52, attacked 18-year-old Ellen Higginbottom, before taking her laptop and mobile phone and then leaving her for dead near a wheat field close to Orrell Water Park in Wigan.

Miss Higginbottom was reported missing after failing to return home from Winstanley College on June 16.

Her body was found the next day and a post-mortem examination showed she died from multiple wounds to the neck.

The A-level student, who aspired to be a vet, was targeted by Buckley as she walked alone in the park after earlier revising at the college.

She was intending to return and meet up with friends who were sitting exams.

Sentencing Buckley, Judge David Stockdale QC said the facts of the case were "frankly chilling".

He said: "You Mark Buckley had entered the park intending, as I find, upon attacking and sexually assaulting a female.

"You were carrying a bag later seen to contain items for sexual activity, together with a length of rope and cord.

"You were carrying a knife."

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, told the court that Buckley's selection of Miss Higginbottom appeared to be random but the attack itself was pre-meditated and involved "considerable planning"

Between 5.30am and 2pm he approached three female dog walkers in the park and spoke with them briefly before walking off.

One of the women recalled he was clutching a green plastic carrier bag that was later discovered at his mother's home in Orrell.

Inside the Home Bargains bag were Miss Higginbottom's possessions, a length of rope, other pieces of ligature, an empty condom packet and sachets of sexual lubricant.

"The purpose was to subdue, sexually assault and murder a female," said Mr Wright.

Miss Higginbottom had wished her friends good luck in their exams and left the college at about 12.45pm.

About an hour later she sent a Snapchat message to a friend which appeared to have been taken in the park and was captioned "I have been out for like 20 minutes and I'm already lost".

At about 2.15pm a female passer-by heard what she thought was a couple engaging in sex in some bushes off a pathway in the park.
Mr Wright said "in all likelihood" what the woman had heard was in fact the fatal attack on Miss Higginbottom.

Miss Higginbottom's disappearance was not immediately realised as it was assumed she had gone home instead of returning to college but her parents, Michael and Kay, became anxious when they were later unable to contact her, said the prosecutor.

The police were alerted and conducted a search of the area where she had last been sighted, while Miss Higginbottom's family and boyfriend, Ryan Warren, also combed the park.

In the early hours of the following day a police helicopter identified a heat source in the park in a waist-height wheat field which was Buckley who fled before officers arrived.

Miss Higginbottom's partially dressed body was lying face down next down to a hedge with her lower back, buttocks and thigh exposed.

It appeared a belt had been used to drag her by ankles and a spade was found close to her right foot, the court heard.

A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death was incises wounds, one of which was "extremely deep", and pressure to the neck, with signs of strangulation.

Mr Wright said she could have been subjected to a sexual assault but there was no forensic or scientific evidence to confirm that.
On June 18, Buckley was arrested at his address in New Hall Lane, Preston.

During two days of police interviews he admitted he had killed Miss Higginbottom, said Mr Wright.

He claimed he had pushed her into some bushes in the park but had not raped her.

He told officers that her clothes were disturbed during a struggle and that he later attempting to move her body but wanted her to be discovered.

Michael Hayton QC, defending, said that Buckley had been hard-working and involved in long-term relationships for a large part of his adult life but had needed medication for anxiety and depression after the "double blow" of losing his job and lover.

Buckley accepted he had committed an "act of inexplicable wickedness" but he could not offer any explanation for the murder.

He had previous convictions dating to the 1990s and was relocated to Preston following a two-and-a-half jail sentence for arson and criminal damage in 2012 after he torched a neighbour's car.

In September 2016 he received a 12-month suspended term for affray and criminal damage.

David Graham, senior crown prosecutor in the North West, said: "Mark Buckley went out that day equipped with a knife to carry out a violent assault.

"It was the prosecution case that it was a sexually motivated and pre-meditated murder, and that he spent a number of hours that morning looking for a lone female to attack.

"We believe he selected his victim at random and Ellen Higginbottom was simply walking through the park at the time he chose to attack with tragic consequences."

Last week, Buckley pleaded guilty to the student's murder.

Judge Stockdale said one of the aggravating factors of the offence was that it was "plain" that the attack took "some little time" and that Miss Higginbottom's death was "not instantaneous".

After sentencing Ellen’s dad Mike Higginbottom said in a statement:

“There can never be anything even remotely approaching justice for what was done to Ellen, but what can be done has been done and both Kay and I want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been involved in bringing about today’s achievement.

“We were tremendously lucky to have shared eighteen years with her and everyone else who knew her will identify with that feeling.

"She made the world a better place with pretty much everything she said and everything she did.

“We all would have liked more though, and we would especially have liked for her to have had more

"For her to have seen the results of all her hard work, for her to have seen her friends fly the nest as they went all to uni, for her to have explored the world that she was just growing into.

“To have all that taken away from her in such a pointless and idiotic fashion fills us with an anger and resentment that does not represent who we want to be. But we wrestle it under control and learn to be better at being people. Because that’s what adults do.

“So if there’s anyone else out there thinking of doing anything even half this stupid, just take one piece of advice. Grow up.”

Detective Superintendent Howard Millington, of GMP’s Serious Crime division, said: “My thoughts will always be with Ellen’s family and friends, this was an absolutely devastating murder by a stranger of an innocent young girl with her whole life ahead of her.

“Buckley callously killed Ellen in broad daylight. He attacked her in the most brutal way as she was walking around Orrell Water Park before going to meet her friends who were taking their exams.

“I am glad Buckley will now be spending many years behind bars to contemplate the young life that he has stolen away, but I wish that we hadn’t even had to investigate this crime.

“I wish it hadn’t happened and Ellen was here celebrating her A-Level results with her friends and planning her future.

“I would like to pay tribute to Ellen’s family and boyfriend for the dignified way they have conducted themselves in what has been the most awful of times; we can never bring Ellen back but I hope they can gain some comfort in the fact that justice has been done.”