April 20, 2021 2.03 pm This story is over 35 months old

Man on trial accused of killing two sex workers 21 years apart

He was previously acquitted for one of the murders
Samantha Class (left) and Alena Grlakova (right) were murdered 21 years apart. | Photos: Humberside & South Yorkshire Police

A man on trial accused of murdering two female sex workers 21 years apart told an undercover officer he had killed a woman.

Gary Allen, 47, is currently on trial at Sheffield Crown Court and is accused of strangling Samantha Class, 29, whose beaten body was found by three schoolchildren on the banks of the Humber at North Ferriby in October 1997.

However, Allen, who previously lived in Grimsby, has denied killing Ms Class and the murder of 38-year-old Slovakian woman Alena Grlakova in 2018.

Grlakova’s naked body was found in a stream in Rotherham in April 2019 after she was last seen on Boxing Day the year before, which she spent with Allen. They had been “casual acquaintances” with Allen paying her for sex.

She was strangled “either by direct pressure or the use of a ligature” and her “body was weighed down in order to impede detection”. A murder inquiry was later launched by South Yorkshire Police in relation to Alena’s death.

Jurors heard how Mr Allen had a “strong dislike of sex workers”. Both women had worked in the sex industry at the time of their deaths.

Mr Allen was first arrested in July 1998 after he was stopped on suspicion of drink driving. During police interviews he told officers he drove to the red light area of Hull on October 25, 1997, according to BBC.

He paid Ms Class £30 for sex, but also told police she “got angry” and he last saw her walking away from his car some time between 12.30am and 1am.

Allen was eventually charged with murder, but found not guilty by a jury in 2000. The court was told he was previously acquitted of Ms Class’ murder in February of that year, but “significantly more evidence” had since come to light.

The court heard that months after his acquittal, the defendant had attacked two sex workers in Plymouth, for which he was convicted.

Two years later, he reportedly told probation officers of his fantasies about hurting sex workers, desiring them as “scum” and the “the lowest of the low”, according to Prosecutor Alistair MacDonald QC.

He also said that a pathologist found Ms Class had been stamped on, strangled with a ligature and run over with a car before her body went int the water. He added that semen found inside her body matched Mr Allen’s DNA.

Humberside Police launched an undercover operation in 2010 and an officer referred to as “Ian” befriended Mr Allen. During their conversations, he told him that he had strangled a sex worker who got angry with him and “dumped her in the Humber”.

Allen also previously admitted to liking blood and enjoying causing pain to his victims, the court heard on Monday, April 19.

Mr Allen, of no fixed address, denies two counts of murder and the trial is expected to last for around eight weeks.