Convicted murderer who killed his pregnant girlfriend after release is jailed

A convicted murderer who fatally stabbed his pregnant girlfriend 23 times after being released on license has been jailed for a minimum of 42 years.

Shaine March, 47, murdered 32-year-old mum-of-two Alana Odysseos at her home in Walthamstow, east London, in July 2024.

Alana was in the early stages of pregnancy with her third child, which was conceived with her killer.

The incident disturbingly mirrored another act of brutality carried out by March on another woman after his release.

He was locked up in 2013 for stamping on the stomach of his then-girlfriend, who was also pregnant, months after being set free on license from a life sentence for murder.

That sentence was imposed for March’s fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old at a McDonald’s in south London in 2000, when the killer was 21.

March was released again in February 2018.

Jurors at the trial over Alana’s murder were not told of March’s prior convictions, which also include assault and criminal damage raps from 1995.

They were told Alana knew about March’s murder conviction and that probation services regularly came to check on her.

But the checks stopped when March told his handlers the relationship had ended amicably.

In fact, he continued to see her and apparently attempted to pressure her into having an abortion.

The pair had a row about the issue just hours before March murdered Alana, during which she was heard to say: ‘I don’t want to kill my baby.’

March showed no reaction as he was sentenced on Friday, appearing via videolink at the Old Bailey after refusing to face Alana’s family in person.

Mother Karen Cronin said: ‘Alana, my beautiful kind and loving daughter, left this earth in the most callous and brutal way imaginable.

‘The person who has done this to my daughter – who I don’t think deserves the respect of using his name – is evil and a coward. Why did he have to resort to the level of violence he used?

‘The anger I feel towards him doesn’t feel Christian so I can no longer go to Church. I will never have forgiveness in my heart.

‘I want him to die in prison. He should never be let out.’

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