A MURDERER, originally from the Isle of Wight, desecrated his girlfriend’s body by daubing “It was me” in red nail varnish on her leg in an “act of callous and cruel triumphalism”.

The badly beaten body of Imogen Bohajczuk, 29, was discovered on her bed with multiple stab wounds when police were called to her flat in Oldham, Greater Manchester, on March 4.

Weeks earlier Daniel Smith, 41, nicknamed Boxer, killed her in a ferocious and brutal attack and then went on a buying spree with her bank card, emptying her account, before he was arrested in the early hours of March 5.

On February 18, Miss Bohajczuk texted an ex-partner to say Smith had visited her home and become violent with her, Manchester Crown Court heard on Tuesday.

She wrote: “I thought I was going to die… He strangled me so much I nearly died and then he got a knife.”

Miss Bohajczuk called police to report the violence after Smith left.

Officers arrived at her property the next day but got no response, the court was told.

Police were confronted with a “grim scene” when they returned to the address in Ashton Road, Bardsley, on March 4 after her body was found by a housing officer at Miss Bohajczuk’s supported accommodation.

Prosecutor Tim Storrie said: “Imogen Bohajczuk had been laid on her bed. Her body had been arranged as though she were a spectacle. Her arms were crossed and she appeared to be clutching a bottle of perfume. A soft toy was by her neck.

“Her legs were crossed at the ankle and on examination, the discovery was made that her body had been daubed, in nail varnish, with the words ‘It was me’. Chillingly, an exhibition had been made of her body.”

In late 2020, Ms Bohajczuk started seeing alcoholic Smith, who had a history of violent and abusive behaviour towards women.

The court heard how one ex-partner of Smith described how she thought of taking her own life because of his controlling behaviour.

Another former girlfriend of Smith said she left him because she was convinced he would kill her if she remained with him.

Mr Storrie said: “We observe that this pattern of violent and manipulative behaviour was to be replicated in respect of his relationship with Imogen Bohajczuk.”

The post-mortem examination revealed multiple bruises on her face, jaw and scalp, and on her neck in a manner which suggested attempted strangulation.

A bloodied knife was recovered at the scene in the kitchen knife block.

When interviewed, Smith said he accepted he was responsible for her death but he claimed it was “out of character” and he drunkenly daubed on her leg merely to make it clear he had inflicted the injuries.

Benjamin Knight, defending, said his client does not remember the stabbing, but arranged the body not to create a spectacle but to place her in a peaceful position, in his mind.

"He does not really recall what he was thinking, only that it seemed to be the right thing to do – although he accepts, objectively, that does not make any sense.”

Sentencing Smith to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17-and-a-half years, Judge Patrick Field told him: “The macabre graffiti is said to be some kind of confession by you — a sign to the police that you were responsible for the killing. I reject that notion utterly.

“This act looks like callous and cruel triumphalism. There was cruelty here because you desecrated the body of the woman you had just killed in order to proclaim what you had just done.

“It is said that you laid Imogen out on her bed because that is what you thought was right. That is a grotesque irony. There was nothing that you did on that day that can be described as right.

“She was the mother of a young child. In killing Imogen you have deprived that child of a mother and Imogen’s parents and siblings have been deprived of a daughter and a sister. Their grief is palpable.”

Earlier this month, Smith, of Park Road, Oldham, pleaded guilty to murder.