Man goes on trial in Sheffield accused of murdering two women 21 years apart

Gary Allen, aged 47, is accused of killing mum-of-three Alena Grlakova, whose naked body was found in Parkgate, Rotherham, in April 2019.

She had last been seen on Boxing Day 2018.

Jurors were told that Alena was born and brought up in Slovakia and moved to the UK in 2008, living with her husband and three children, who were aged between 12 and 19 at the time of her death.

She and her husband split in 2013.

Alistair MacDonald QC, prosecuting, told Sheffield Crown Court that after that ‘Alena was at something of a low point in her life’ and had started to work in the sex industry.

He added: “One of the tragic ironies of the case is that it was her plan to return to live in Slovakia and that she was, at the time of her death, making plans to recover her identity papers with a view to returning home.”

Allen is also accused of the murder of 29-year-old sex worker Samantha Class, whose body was found on the banks of the Humber estuary, near Hull, in 1997.

Allen was acquitted of the murder in 2000 but is standing trial again over the death after allegedly confessed to an undercover police officer that he had killed a woman and ‘dumped her in The Drink’.

Jurors were told they will hear ‘significantly more evidence’ than the court did in 2000, including the fact that Allen attacked two women within months of his acquittal and then told probation officers of his fantasies about hurting sex workers.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Mr MacDonald QC said Humberside Police launched an undercover operation in 2010.

He said an officer, referred to as ‘Ian’, befriended Allen, who told him about an encounter with a sex worker he strangled before dumping her body in water.

He said Allen told the undercover officer that he had lost his temper so he had strangled Miss Class with a piece of string from the back of his car before dumping her body.

The prosecutor told the jury Miss Class had been ‘brutally murdered’.

A pathologist found that she had been stamped on, strangled with a ligature and run over with a car before her body went in the water.

Mr MacDonald told the jury that months after Allen was cleared of murdering Ms Class, he attacked two sex workers in separate attacks in Plymouth and was convicted of both assaults.

In 2002, he was interviewed by probation officers and ‘spoke openly about his strong dislike of sex workers and of his dislike and distrust of women in general’.

Mr MacDonald said: “He described sex workers as being ‘scum’ and ‘the lowest of the low’.”

The prosecutor said Allen told one probation officer: “I like to frighten them. I like to cause pain. I like to make them cry. I like blood. I like to hurt them. I enjoy it. It makes me feel good.”

Mr MacDonald said the defendant outlined fantasies about beating a naked sex worker with his hands and a bat.

Allen, of no fixed address, denies two counts of murder.