Vic: 18 years for ex prisoner who strangled prostitute

AAP General News (Australia)
08-02-2000
Vic: 18 years for ex prisoner who strangled prostitute

By Stuart Walsh

MELBOURNE, Aug 2 AAP - A newly-freed prisoner who strangled a prostitute in a country
hotel on the day of his release was today jailed for 18 years.

Supreme Court judge Justice Philip Cummins ordered 25 year-old Graeme Leslie Green
to serve a minimum non-parole term of 14 years.

Green, formerly of Seymour, central Victoria, who pleaded not guilty to the murder
of 24 year-old escort agency girl Tracey Holmes, was convicted by a jury on June 28.

The naked body of Ms Holmes, known professionally as Claudia, was discovered in a room
at the Gateway Motel, Riley Street, Wangaratta, north-east Victoria, on the night of August
28, 1998.

Green, just released from Beechworth jail on theft charges, made an appointment with
Ms Holmes, having rung the Border Escort Agency in Albury.

Justice Cummins said no-one other than Green knew precisely what had happened in the room.

But what was clear was that Ms Holmes, a "happy, positive young woman" and the mother
of a three-year-old son, did not do anything to cause trouble.

The likelihood was that Green became angry when he failed to orgasm.

After strangling the woman, Green stole her money and went gambling at another hotel.

Justice Cummins said: "This is the totally unjustified killing of a good young woman
who did nothing to cause the attack on her."

He said the killing and Green's later conduct were "particularly callous".

AAP sew/er/was/br i

KEYWORD: GREEN (CARRIED EARLIER)

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