The young murderer of Sydney businessman Morgan Huxley has lost an appeal against his minimum 30-year prison term.
Daniel Jack Kelsall, 24, was sentenced in 2015 after a jury found him guilty of the indecent assault and murder of Mr Huxley at his Neutral Bay flat in 2013.
His barrister argued the sentence was crushing and ‘manifestly excessive’ but three judges in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Friday dismissed the appeal.
Kelsall now faces up to 40 years and three months behind bars, with a non parole period of 30 years, for what was deemed the ‘most chilling case of murder’.
Daniel Jack Kelsall, 24, had tried to argue his minimum 30-year sentence had his appeal rejected and faces up to 40 years and three months behind bars
A jury took only three hours in March 2015 to find Kelsall, then 22, guilty of stabbing Morgan Huxley, 20.
Kelsall was found to have stalked Mr Huxley, who was a marine engineer, as he returned to his unlocked Neutral Bay unit before stabbing him in the torso, neck and head as he lay in his bed.
The ex apprentice chef formally lodged his notice of appeal on June 1, before it was dealt with in the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Over the course of a two week trial in 2015, the jury heard how Mr Huxley had been discovered by his flatmate lying in a pool of blood.
A jury took only three-hours in March 2015 to find Daniel Jack Kelsall, then 22, guilty of stabbing Morgan Huxley (pictured), 20
Mr Huxley’s blood was also found on the shoulder bag Kelsall was carrying that night – which the 22-year-old had tried to clean in an ‘amateurish’ attempt
Justice Robert Allan Hulme described Kelsall as ‘disturbed’ and his actions as ‘utterly senseless’.
‘This is a most chilling case of murder, whether the offender killed for the thrill of it or as a result of a fantasy or obsession, I’m unable to say,’ Justice Hulme said.
Kelsall had finished work as a kitchenhand at the Sydney Cooking School on September 8, 2013 when he spotted Mr Huxley.
He was captured on CCTV wearing chef pants and running up from behind Mr Huxley as he left a pub, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Kelsall told the court he was invited into the 20-year-old’s apartment before an intruder struck Mr Huxley over the head.
‘It looked like this other person and Mr Huxley were fighting. I then got out of there — I stood up and ran out,’ he told the NSW Supreme Court.
However police found Mr Huxley’s blood on Kelsall’s satchel, as well as the murderer’s blood on his victim’s penis.
It also emerged the killer stalked two other men in Neutral Bay, one just a week after he murdered Mr Huxley in his bedroom.
One young man told police that just a week after the murder and just streets away, a man he identified as Kelsall — and wearing the same cook’s uniform — stalked him down Ben Boyd Rd almost to his front door.
Kelsall was found to have stalked Mr Huxley, who was a marine engineer, as he returned to his unlocked Neutral Bay unit before stabbing him in the torso, neck and head as he lay in his bed
The young man said he confronted Kelsall, who ran off, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Another man also told police he was having a cigarette outside a block of units in Spruson St several months before the murder when a man, who he later identified as Kelsall, jumped out from behind a bush.
Morgan Huxley’s family spoke to the NSW Supreme Court at the sentencing in March, 2015 about the devastation Kelsall’s crime had wrought.
His mother Deirdre said she couldn’t find words to describe what it was like ‘to be in the same room, and be so close to the killer of my son’.
Kelsall watched Ms Huxley as she said her son had been taken from her brutally and senselessly and ‘apparently for the thrill of it’.
Mr Huxley’s brother Oliver Huxley asked: ‘What for? Why did he (Kelsall) take someone’s life away?’
Kelsall (pictured) was found to have stalked Mr Huxley as he returned to his unlocked Neutral Bay unit before stabbing him in the torso, neck and head as he lay in his bed
He recounted how he imagined blow by blow how his brother would have spent his last moments.
Morgan Huxley’s father Allan Huxley said his son was taken away from him and he didn’t know why.
‘I will have to live the rest of my life never having an answer,’ he wrote in a victim impact statement read out by a support person.
Meanwhile, Morgan’s sister Tiffany Huxley said the trial had been traumatic.
‘My family and I had to sit there in silence as Morgan’s killer told his calculated lies in court.’
Speaking outside court Mr Huxley’s ex-girlfriend Jessica Hall said his ‘life had been stolen by a worthless psychopath’.
Police found Mr Huxley’s blood on Kelsall’s satchel, as well as the murderer’s blood on his victim’s penis
Over the course of a two week trial, the jury in the NSW Supreme Court heard how Mr Huxley had been discovered by his flatmate lying in a pool of blood in the doorway of his Neutral Bay apartment on Sydney’s North Shore.
The crown relied on a string of circumstantial evidence, which crown prosecutor Peter McGrath SC told the jury would leave them to infer only one thing – Kelsall was the killer.
The first was CCTV footage which shows an intoxicated and barefoot Mr Huxley leaving the nearby Oaks Hotel around 1.30am with Kelsall breaking into a jog behind him.
Kelsall tracked him into his home, indecently assaulted him as he lay on his bed, and then stabbed him at least 20 times, the crown said.
Kelsall’s satchel (pictured) which was found by police with Mr Huxley’s blood on it
His DNA had been found on Mr Huxley’s penis and a single print matching his ring finger was on the businessman’s bedroom door.
Mr Huxley’s blood was also found on the shoulder bag Kelsall was carrying that night – which the 22-year-old had tried to clean in an ‘amateurish’ attempt.
But the key to all of this was Kelsall’s 2012 confessions that he had intrusive thoughts about killing ‘a random’ with a knife.
The truth, Mr McGrath said, was awful but simple – Kelsall killed Mr Huxley for no reason.