Pub chef who sexually assaulted and murdered artist as she walked dog gets six more years in jail
Harrison Lawrence Van-Pooss was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25-and-a-half years in February for killing Claire Knights, 54, in Kent almost two years ago.
He ambushed her as she walked back from a beach near Minnis Bay, sexually assaulted and then murdered her before dumping her body.
The 'highly sexualised' killer was seen on CCTV going to the gym and buying snacks just hours before the brutal murder.
The 21-year-old then 'feigned' symptoms of psychosis following his arrest, the Court of Appeal was told on Friday.
His sentence was referred by the Solicitor General for being unduly lenient, with Lord Justice Edis, Mr Justice Calver and Judge Angela Morris increasing Van-Pooss' minimum term to one of 31 years.
Jonathan Polnay KC, for the SG, said the judge at Canterbury Crown Court did not give enough weight to how Ms Knights had been targeted as a lone woman, the extreme nature of the violence and that her body had been hidden for two days before it was discovered.
He also said the judge gave too much credit for Van-Pooss's guilty plea and his sentence therefore 'required an uplift of substance'.
Quoting Canterbury Crown Court judge Mr Justice Garnham, he said: 'This was a merciless beating causing catastrophic brain injuries and multiple facial fractures. There would have been a very significant period of mental and physical suffering.
'She must have been terrified as she considered the likelihood that you were going to kill her.'
Mr Polnay added: 'That is an aggravating factor of some weight. That's not part and parcel of a murder.'
He also referenced mitigating factors considered by the original judge.
One of those was Van-Pooss' guilty plea, which he submitted in December 2024, over a year after Ms Knights' death in August 2023.
This followed several reports to determine the 21-year-old's mental status due to his presenting psychotic symptoms.
It was deemed he did not have psychosis, and it was suggested he had faked such symptoms.
Mr Polnay said: 'It took some considerable time for the plea to be entered. Reports were necessary for this case.
'I entirely accept the offender does have a mental disorder, but he inevitably made the process longer and more complicated.
'He is someone who has malingered and continued to present false symptoms.'
Stephen Moses KC, for Van-Pooss, said the targeting was 'a matter of moments rather than pre-meditated'.
He added: 'Any findings of fact that there was malingering are explained by the personality disorder, but are not, in our case, perverting the course of justice.
'Matters were consistent with a personality disorder rather than simply framing mental illness.'
He also put forward that a previous defence taken by Van Pooss - that Ms Knights made sexual advances towards him - was never advanced, so should not alter the level of credit given.
Ultimately, the Court of Appeal judges decided a mistake had been made in the original sentencing.
Van-Pooss also pleaded guilty to upskirting another woman at the pub where he worked the day before he killed Ms Knights.
After she reported this, Van-Pooss was dismissed on August 22, 2023, and he left, carrying a backpack with a chef's knife inside.
He then built a 'den' by the railway lines near Minnis Bay, Lord Justice Edis said in his judgment.
Ms Knights was believed to have been walking a white and brown spaniel called Zebulon when she ran into Van-Pooss the following day.
Van-Pooss acted in a 'simple' and 'calculated' way, the judge added, as he beat her and stomped on her head, causing fractures and brain damage.
Ms Knights was found concealed in a dyke, having been pushed into the water while she was still alive.
Van-Pooss was arrested for the upskirting offence on the evening of the killing, and was later charged with murder.
Lord Justice Edis said the killing of a lone woman created 'widespread concern in the local community' and that Van-Pooss received an unduly lenient sentence.
He added: 'The first thing we wish to say is that we commend the experienced judge for his approach to this case.
'The judge, in dealing with a horrifying and dreadful case of this kind, has to firmly try and succeed in maintaining an objective approach.
'The judge's job is to apply the law it the facts of the case and to be fair to the person who is to be sentenced. That is not easy in any case like this.
'We believe in making this decision, the judge did fall into error because the aggravating factors did outweigh the mitigating factors.
'That is enforced by what we have to say about the defendant's conduct in mimicking psychosis.'
They said a starting term of 33 years should have been given, with only two years deducted for the late guilty plea.
Ms Knight's son Elliot Knights-Sloane and her younger sister Annie Watson spoke to KentOnline outside court today.
Mr Knights-Sloane said: 'There were things that we felt were glossed over and ignored that were hugely significant in the first hearing, and have now been brought up and actually addressed.
'The principle of that is what matters more than anything else.'
His aunt added: 'The three judges recognised that the perpetrator had strung this all along and malingered all the way through and fed the police the story.
'There's a sense of relief now, because every time you come (to court), it just throws you straight back to the horror of it.
'This means now we can get on and we can remember Claire as she should be remembered, and that's what's important.'
Mr Knights-Sloane continued: 'We want her death to mean something, and we want something positive to come out of her death.
'If we can do anything towards stopping violence against women, that would be a positive thing.'
At Canterbury Crown Court, Ms Knights' friends and family heard harrowing details of how she was ambushed as she strolled with her Springer spaniel in Minnis Bay, Birchington, on August 23, 2023.
Van-Pooss subjected her to a vicious sexual assault and beating before dumping her unconscious, but still alive, in a nearby water-filled dyke.
Solicitor General Lucy Rigby said: 'Lawrence Van-Pooss's attack on Claire Knights was horrific. He assaulted and brutally murdered her, in a totally random attack.
'I welcome the court's decision to increase Van-Pooss's sentence and I would like to express my deepest sympathies to Claire's family and loved ones.'
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