Aberdeen support worker 'brutally and tragically' murdered by 'violent' partner

A domestic abuser who savagely murdered his partner in her own home and claimed “she deserved it” has been jailed for life.

A judge ordered that Christopher Cook should serve a minimum of 20 years in prison following the killing of Jacqueline Kerr who died from head and neck injuries.

Lord Weir told Cook, 44, that he had committed “what can only have been a brutal and sustained assault upon her with tragic and fatal consequences”.

The judge said he would have imposed a minimum jail term of 24 years on Cook if he had been convicted of the offence after a trial.

Cook, of no fixed abode, earlier admitted murdering the 54-year-old support worker for children with learning difficulties on January 15 this year at her home in Sunnyside Road, Aberdeen.

He fatally assaulted the victim by repeatedly inflicting blunt force trauma to her head and body by means to the prosecutor unknown.

The victim was found to have sustained a brain injury of a type typically seen in deaths resulting from a road traffic collision or a fall from height.

The offence was aggravated by involving the abuse of his partner or former partner and by Cook being on bail, having been freed at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on November 18 last year.

Advocate depute Shanti Maguire said Cook and Ms Kerr had been in what was described as “an on/off relationship since about February/March 2022”.

The victim’s body was found after police forced entry to her home and found her with significant head and facial injuries.

Cook was later stopped in a car and was heard shouting “check the CCTV, she deserved it”.

Police arrived to find him being restrained by witnesses in the Bridge of Don area.

Defence counsel Michael Anderson KC said of steel erector Cook: “He has worked all his adult life. He has a minimal record of previous convictions.”

He said Cook continued to enjoy the support of his two daughters and a former partner.

Mr Anderson said Cook had found recounting the events of the murder to a social worker, who prepared a background report on him, to be “extremely distressing”.

The defence counsel said: “He advises that he wept most of the meeting.”