GEORGE Naylor - the Bradford double killer who died in prison after refusing treatment - would never have claimed his second victim had the judiciary listened to warnings from his ex-partner.

Naylor was given a life sentence for killing two young women in Bradford in 1985 and 1995.

In 1985, Naylor killed 22-year-old Deborah Kershaw in Bradford's red light district He strangled her to death only eight weeks after being released early from a stint in prison for raping and robbing a 61-year-old pensioner.

For Kershaw's death, Naylor was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 11 years, but only served nine of them.

In 1995, he went on to murder 18-year-old Maureen Stepan, strangling her to death in her Bradford flat. For this killing, he received a life sentence, but immediately appealed.

That prompted the mother of his two children to speak out.

The 59-year-old lived with the double killer for six years and had his son and daughter.

She said, after his sentence for manslaughter, she had written to MPs and appeal Court judges warning them Naylor would kill again if he was ever allowed free.

"I was so angry when I heard about Maureen Stepan's death because it was so needless," she said.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus:

Naylor murdered Maureen Stepan, above

"When his life sentence for the killing of Deborah Kershaw was slashed to 11 years in 1987, I wrote to the appeal court judges countless times begging them not to let him out as he would kill again. Unfortunately, I was proved right."

In 1999, Naylor was convicted of the murder of Maureen Stepan for the second time at Sheffield Crown Court after an appeal for a re-trial for his second killing. He was ordered to serve at least 20 years.

READ MORE: The final days of tragic Maureen Stepan

Naylor's former partner told the T&A that she suffered years of abuse and violence and that he had a pathological hatred of women. She said he tried to strangle her and broke into her house several times. She said that she has had to have continuous police protection every time Naylor was released from jail.

"I sat through the Deborah Kershaw trial and heard George say on the night he killed her that he had waited outside my house for an hour looking for me. If I had been in that night I'm sure it would have been me.

READ MORE: Murder accused 'I picked up vice girl'

"George is a psychopath and is very clever. I met him in a pub in Bradford and I completely fell for him. He could charm the birds from the trees."

She finally left Naylor in 1973 after six years of physical and sexual attacks. Less than a year later he raped and assaulted a spinster who lived in the flat below him.

READ MORE: How Naylor went on hunger strike over appeal

"As soon as I heard about the attack on the pensioner, as with all the killings, I knew it was George," she said.

Naylor has since died in Durham's Frankland Prison.

The Ombudsman's investigation into Naylor's death outlined Parkinson's disease, and his 2019 diagnosis of a rare neurodegenerative condition. Neither diagnosis had previously been public knowledge.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus:

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