The 36-year-old British man admitted to murdering his Canadian ex girlfriend with a gunshot and a hammer, but he denied the killing of her 22-month old daughter.
Robert Leeming’s guilty plea comes two years after the bodies of Jasmine Lovett, 25, and her daughter Aliyah Sanderson were found in a shallow grave in Kananaskis, near where he lived in Calgary.
Leeming, a HGV driver from Wiltshire, UK initially stated that he did nothing wrong and was out on a date at the time Lovett, Sanderson vanished in April 2019.
He later took over two covert operations. Police officers who were friends with him offered to remove them to the grave at Grizzly Creek.
After confessing to it, he then attacked his ex-lover Lovett with an axe and shot him in the head.
Aliyah was not killed by him, but he described her as a “great kid” and said that she had to have been there. died from injuries sustained when she fell down stairs while he was looking after her.
Robert Leeming, 36, has admitted murdering his Canadian ex-girlfriend with a hammer and gunshot but denied killing her 22-month-old daughter
Leeming pleads guilty to the charges two years after Jasmine Lovett’s (pictured) bodies and Aliyah Sanderson’s body were discovered in Kananaskis.
Leeming He was the sole witness who testified for defense.
While Lovett was not present, the court heard Lovett, 36, ‘just snap’ and beat Lovett with a hammer, before she shot Lovett in the head with 0.22 calibre rifle. She lay on the floor bleeding profusely.
He claimed he was “happy” to care for Aliyah throughout his relationship with her mom and that Lovett was also a ‘friend”.
Lovett suffered skull fractures, and was shot in the head. Aliyah succumbed to blunt force trauma to her head.
Balfour Der, Leeming’s defense attorney, stated that there is no evidence that the 36-year old had murdered Aliyah on the Court of Queen’s Justice’s first day.
Der further stated that the medical examiner who examined her had indicated she was at risk of death from injury sustained during a fall.
He added, “The lack of evidence will support reasonable suspicion.” It should be declared not guilty. However, I would suggest that there be an alternative verdict of manslaughter.
Doug Taylor, Prosecutor for the State of Texas, refuted Der’s assertion and argued that Leeming hadn’t told police about the accident-caused death.
He said, “No one would miss that chance unless it wasn’t an accident.”
Taylor told Leeming that Taylor’s tale of a fall was not consistent with the forensic evidence. He also stated that it ‘defies logic.’ Taylor further pointed out that he has lied numerous times.
After he had murdered Jasmine, ‘he told lie after lie,’ according to Aliyah, the Crown. He told lies to police. The public was also lied to. His ex-wife was also lied to. He also lied to his employer.
“All this was a deliberate scheme to get away from murder. Not just one, but both.”
Taylor also told the court it ‘does not have to be able to find with certainty the exact mechanisms of how it is that the accused would have committed the murder against Aliyah Sanderson, just so long as he is found to be legally responsible for it’.
Leeming claimed that he became agitated and attacked Lovett after Lovett asked him whether he had inflicted injuries on Aliyah (pictured), who was being looked after by Lovett.
Aliyah’s grandmother Jodi Sanderson appeared in court. Jodi stated that the proceedings were ‘hard to view’ and that she was anxious for it to be over.
“You all know the facts, but it was quite traumatizing to be told in detail. “I’m happy we are finally at an end, and it will be all over soon,” she stated, noting that Leeming should be convicted.
“That would be the greatest relief. Jasmine already knows he has admitted. This is another fact that truly shakes me to my core. To not admit to Aliyah, at least… some wrongdoing, is very hard to listen to.’
Speaking outside court during the trial last month, Lovett’s mother Kim Blankert said: ‘It’s like getting hit with a truck every time we come in, but we still make sure to stand up for Jasmine or Aliyah.
“It doesn’t matter what Robert Leeming does because it doesn’t change anything and it doesn’t bring back the girls. While we all want justice in the short-term, the process of healing doesn’t take into account the longer term.
“The healing begins after all this has been done, so we can move on and get rid of all the violence.”
Lovett, Aliyah and their family were reported as missing after they did not show up to a family meal. Leeming, initially in custody for the disappearance was released after being cleared.
After police made an arrest, he was taken back. The bodies were found in Kananaskis 70 miles from the house where Lovett, Leeming and their children lived. They had been doused with gasoline and wrapped in blankets made of blue and others covered with dirt and branches.
According to police, the incident was reported as follows: “At around 4 a.m. on Monday, May 6, 2019, the body of a female and child were found in Kananaskis. They are believed to have been Jasmine Lovett or Aliyah Sanderson.”
‘The officers found the bodies in a densely wooded area close to Grizzly Creek, just off Highway 40.
“A suspect was taken into custody, and the charges against him are still pending.”
Officers were searching the Bragg Creek area, which is 40 miles away from the place Leeming claimed he last saw them at his home.
They made a breakthrough and moved closer to Grizzly creek where they were located on May 6, 2019.
Leeming led the two police officers undercover to the shalow in Grizzly Creek after they claimed that they had stolen evidence from a neighbor.
Leeming led two undercover police officers to the site after they told him they had retrieved a bag of evidence from a nosy neighbour and offered to help with his troubles by removing the bodies, the Global Times reported.
According to testimony, Leeming led the officers to the location on foot. He knew where they should go.
“OK, I’m going to where?” It was also available in English. [Leeming]He says, “You are looking at it.” He pointed down. I looked down and saw branches and a heap under and to my left foot.
“[Leeming]Goes to grab a branch, and then he lifts it up like proving what is underneath these branches. “I see the blue in his eyes as he lifts a branch. This is what I consider to be moving blankets.
This discovery was made days after Leeming had boasted about it to reporters While a team from forensics searched his home, the bartender said: “They won’t find anything because I didn’t do any wrong.”
Leeming was also allegedly lied to by the undercover officers, who told court that he had hidden raw bacon in his home and filled his car with mulch as a way of evading police.
Leeming can be heard on a recorded of the trial telling police that mulch smells like death and was filling his trunk with it.
When asked if he cleaned the vehicle properly after transporting bodies, he replied “oh yeah.”
Leeming told officers undercover that he was happy his Mercedes, a 2014 Mercedes, was older so the police wouldn’t be able use a computer inside to determine where he was.
Lovett, Sanderson and Leeming were staying with Leeming just before they died. Lovett had lived seven months with Sanderson, and he had an intimate relationship.
Leeming was born in Germany on an British Army Base and lived there until he moved to Wiltshire. He told police that he had gone for a picnic on April 17 with his friends.
Then, he said that he went out with a girl he was seeing for some time. Lovett used his bank card to make an online purchase that day.
On December 3, the court will determine a date to send Leeming for sentencing.
Lovett, Sanderson and Leeming were in Leeming’s lodging before Sanderson died. Lovett was in an intimate relationship and had known Sanderson for the past seven months.