The women taunted and killed a vulnerable neighbor while filming a “brutal” attack.

Two women have been jailed for 26 years after murdering their vulnerable neighbor Stephen Koszyczarski.

Nicola Lethbridge, 45, and Zoe Rider, 36, targeted Stephen and attacked him at his home in Fraser Drive, Sheffield, accusing him of being a pedophile, taunting him and mutilating him before inflicting a fatal head injury. The sick pair even filmed part of the horrific attack, YorkshireLive reports.

On Wednesday (June 4), prosecutor Andrew O’Byrne read a statement from Stephen’s former partner and friend of 38 years, Mary Jones.

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She said: “I keep expecting him to come in for a chat, then I remember he can’t. His life was taken from him. It’s painful to watch the video shot of him – it wasn’t Stephen. He was not a** ** Stephen was kind and gentle.

“The impact he had on me in my own home is unbearable. He made me nervous and paranoid every time I hear noises. I have trouble sleeping… It’s heartbreaking that I won’t see him again. I cry the most. He was a special man. Help anyone and he had a heart of gold smiling in that photo, I will love Stephen and miss him for the rest of my life.”

The court heard that both Rider and Lethbridge had previous convictions on their records. Rider – who was wearing Rosary beads around her neck – was on a suspended sentence at the time of Stephen’s murder.

Lethbridge sobbed as her barrister, James Hill KC, made his plea in mitigation. He said she would not have committed the offenses if left to her own devices. He said: “I don’t want to diminish the seriousness of the robbery but it may have been incidental to the crime and for that reason I uphold the appalling behavior and the robbery as aggravating factors.”

Mr Hill said there was a lack of forethought and added: “I appreciate that Ms Lethbridge is a mature woman but you have heard something from her terrible background and I invite your honor to consider that this context could have left her more vulnerable to the ravages of alcohol and drug addiction and that, in turn, would have left her more vulnerable to being led by someone, at least ostensibly, who would have been criminally inclined had they not committed these offences”.

John Ryder KC, for Rider, said she suffered physical abuse as a child and was forced to steal from a young age to help fund her mother’s drug addiction. He said: “She was unwanted, unloved, uncared for… She was introduced to cannabis by her mother at the age of 12 and in that home environment she quickly moved on to class A drugs. Our central support is , in essence, that it was everything, but It is inevitable that her whole life will be classified according to traits of violence and addiction, and we ask your honor to take that into account.

While sentencing Rider and Lethbridge, Judge Sarah Wright said Stephen had a number of health problems and no information had been uncovered during the police investigation to suggest he had any connection to any pedophile interests or activities.

She said: “In the weeks before his death, Stephen changed. He was unusually penniless, unkempt and cautious, and visibly distressed and frightened. After hearing the evidence, I have no doubt that Zoe Rider targeted him as someone you could exploit. and he continued to do so and you, Nicola Lethbridge, engaged in loud and intimidating behavior keeping Stephen awake and frightened.

“On August 9 you were high on drink and possibly drugs and discovered that you entered his flat together to threaten, assault and rob him, no doubt to finance the drug use. For whatever reason, you accused Stephen of being a pedophile. invaded his house, intending to assist you in his property by threat and use of violence, and dealt with him in the most brutal manner, and launched a vicious and common attack upon him.

“You threatened to mutilate him and shouted obscenities at him. You failed to listen to his denials or offer him any compassion when he was clearly hurt. The purpose of your attack was to rob him and humiliate him, terrify him and hurt him. You left him visibly injured and bleeding, with 22 separate wounds to his face and body, including a broken nose and a bleed on the brain that proved fatal.

“While you may not have intended to kill Stephen, you certainly intended to cause him really serious harm, to stress and terrify him. You helped yourself to his property, including recovered jewelry. I have no doubt that you intended to sell this jewelry for drugs. This is clearly a crime for profit.”

She sentenced both Lethbridge and Rider to life and told them they must serve 26 years behind bars before going before the parole board, which will determine whether they are safe to be released .