News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A family have shared their heartbreak after two sisters were killed in two separate attacks - one of them two years ago and the other 36 years ago.

Vera Hudson was murdered at the age of 57 and her body was discovered in Hull at 7.30am on Thursday, September 19, 2019.

Mark Jewitt, 25, of west Hull, was arrested in connection with the murder, Hull Live reports.

He pleaded guilty to the murder of the 57-year-old at his home via video link at Grimsby Crown Court on Thursday.

Vera's sister Irene Hudson was beaten to death with an iron bar in a sexually-motivated attack in 1984 in Shipley, near Bradford.

(Image: PA)

Stephen Ayre, who was 23 at the time, beat Irene to death by a canal.

He was convicted of murder and jailed but was released on licence 20 years later.

Shortly after his release, he abducted and raped a ten-year-old boy in Saltaire, near Bradford, in 2006.

Ayre dragged the terrified child into his flat and subjected him to the brutal sex attack while threatening the boy with a knife.

He was given a life sentence which was later reduced to a ten-year tariff.

Ayre died in Full Sutton Prison earlier this year aged 56 after suffering from lung cancer.

Vera Hudson’s eldest daughter Rebecca said: “My mum’s sister Irene was murdered 35 years ago in Bradford. I was just a child when she was killed.

“So this is the second murder we have had to deal with as a family which has been horrific.

"This is why I feel a life should be taken for a life.”

Irene, 25, had been reported missing after she failed to return from a night out and her body was later found on a bridle path near the town's railway station.

Jewitt will be sentenced for Vera's murder at Hull Crown Court on Thursday, March 12 and Rebecca says she will be there.

She previously said: “I don’t know what will happen but I guess he may get 15 years but I feel it should be a life for a life.

"He took my mum from me and now I will have to live without her for the rest of my life.

"But he is only 25 years old and could be walking free when he is just 40 years old.

“I have had nightmares since this happened and have struggled to sleep.”