A killer posed his girlfriend's body on her bed and used nail varnish to daub the words: 'It was me!' on her skin after he strangled and stabbed her to death in a sickening ritualistic murder.
Daniel Smith, 41, left the macabre boast on the right leg of Imogen Bohayczuk, 29, after laying out her corpse and arranging her arms and legs like an 'exhibition' before going on a spending spree with her bank card.
Police who arrived at Miss Bohayczuk's home in supported accommodation in the Bardsley area of Oldham, Greater Manchester, found that her arms were crossed and she appeared to be clutching a bottle of perfume.
A soft children's toy had been left by Miss Bohayczuk's neck and her legs were crossed at the ankle, while attempts had been made to clean the scene before detectives got there in March.
Prosecutors said the posing of the body had been 'arranged as though she were a spectacle' - and Smith said: 'I did what I felt was right. It was her favourite bottle of perfume, her favourite teddy.'
On the day she died on February 18 this year, she twice made 999 calls to police and sent messages to an ex-boyfriend, saying: 'He strangled me so much I nearly died and then he got a knife. I though was going to die.'
Officers only arrived at the house 24 hours after the calls and then promptly left when they got no answer. The victim's body lay undiscovered for two weeks until a housing officer made the grisly discovery on March 4.
Today it also emerged that Smith had previously subjected a string of ex-lovers to controlling violence. An investigation is now ongoing into why police failed to respond to Miss Bohayczuk's SOS calls more quickly.
When interviewed, Smith also said he accepted he was responsible for her death but he claimed it was 'out of character' and he had drunkenly daubed on her leg merely to make it clear he had inflicted the injuries.
Murderer Daniel Smith (left), 41, desecrated the body of his girlfriend Imogen Bohayczuk (right), 29, by daubing 'It was me' in red nail varnish on her leg in an 'act of callous and cruel triumphalism'
Today, Manchester Crown Court heard Miss Bohayczuk had been in a violent and abusive relationship with Smith, who was jailed for life after admitting murder earlier this month.
The court heard Miss Bohayczuk, who had a son by a previous relationship, worked as a carer but was said to be 'vulnerable' and met Smith last year. Nicknamed 'Boxer', he was said to be a 'violent and manipulative man.'
Tim Storrie QC, prosecuting, said one former partner had a 'long and significant relationship with him in the late 90s and gives an account of his controlling behaviour that involved threats with knives and being thrown down the stairs'.
He added of the ex-partner: 'She was so distraught she contemplated taking her own life. He manipulated her by convincing her that he had been diagnosed with a cancer but this was nothing more that a shameless lie.
Mr Storrie said another former girlfriend recalled 'how she was terrorised by him during a relationship which saw them move from the Isle of Wight to Tameside in the 2000s', adding: 'Ultimately she left him because she was convinced that he would kill her if she remained.'
A third 'described a report to the police in 2015 about Smith, her then boyfriend, had assaulted her', Mr Storrie said. He added: 'He also confiscating her bank cards and caused her humiliation.
Miss Bohayczuk (above), who had a son by a previous relationship, had been in a violent and abusive relationship with Smith
'She considered him to be a very dangerous man. This pattern of violent and manipulative behaviour was to be replicated in respect of his relationship with Imogen.'
In November 2020, a housing officer visited Miss Bohayczuk and noticed she was bruised and in need of hospital treatment. The victim said she had been stabbed in the thigh by Smith but only agreed to treatment if police were not informed.
The officer later shared the information with her colleagues and although police visited Miss Bohayczuk later that day it is thought no action was taken.
In the days leading up to the killing, Miss Bohayczuk then made contact with an ex-boyfriend, Gregory Johnson, and told him Smith was beating her up.
Mr Storrie added: 'At 5pm on February 18, Imogen called the police on the 112 number on two occasions. In the second call she gave an account that Daniel Smith had left the property, that she would not let him back in because he had gripped her around her neck.
'She then sent messages via the WhatsApp platform to
