Man sentenced to life after confessing to murder in prayer

George Maben, 45, was handed a life sentence for the murder of Maureen Cosgrove, the mother of his pregnant girlfriend Lucy Rees, 34.

During the trial the jury were told that Maben had had arguments with Cosgrove in the past and that his baby was due to born at around the time of the murder.

Cosgrove was killed at her south London home on 24 March when Maben strangled her with a ligature in her kitchen after she came home from a visit to the dentist.

Evidence used against Maben included CCTV footage, which showed him putting on gloves on the bus and traces of fibres from Cosgrove’s clothes on the clothes that Maben was wearing on the day of the murder.

However the most dramatic evidence supplied was a recording taken from a secret listening device placed in Maben’s car by the police.

Just weeks after the murder, on 9 April, he was recorded as saying, "Please God, help me... for me and Lucy eliminated from all police inquiries and everything's all right, please God help me.

"I just could not take it any more. Every single day, she was breaking me down. Please God will you forgive me? Please God, sorry."

The prosecutor, Anthony Glass QC said that the apparent prayer should be seen as a confession.

Maben’s girlfriend claimed during the trial that Maben had told her that he prayed for forgiveness for stealing £50 from his mother. She said that he felt “low” because he was unemployed and had no money.