The case
Sasha Marsden was a 16-year-old student from the village of Staining, near Blackpool, England. David Minto, 22, was a handyman and barman at the Grafton House Hotel in Blackpool, which his girlfriend’s family owned and which was closed for renovation. He contacted Sasha on Facebook and offered her cleaning work at the hotel, and she went there for what seemed to be an induction a few days before she died.
On January 31, 2013, Sasha returned to the hotel for work. Minto sexually assaulted her and stabbed her more than 50 times. He wrapped her body, left it in an alley in Blackpool’s South Shore area and tried to burn it, then cleaned the scene. Blood found inside the hotel linked him to the killing. Police arrested him on February 1, and he was charged two days later.
A jury at Preston Crown Court convicted Minto of murder on July 26, 2013, and the judge sentenced him that day to life in prison with a minimum term of 35 years, which means he cannot be considered for parole before 2048. In October 2025 another inmate attacked him at HMP Wakefield and was later sentenced for attempted murder. Sasha’s sister, Katie Brett, spent years campaigning for families to get more time to challenge sentences they consider too lenient, and Parliament passed Sasha’s Law in April 2026.
Case photographs
Where it happened
Blackpool, where Sasha Marsden was lured with a fake job offer