It was a walk of death.

Convicted killer David Mitchell was captured by CCTV cameras at Huddersfield Bus Station with sex offender Robert Hind, who was on the run.

Hours later, Hind was dead - murdered by Mitchell and his body callously dumped in a Huddersfield canal.

Now killer David Mitchell - who had previously been jailed for the murder of his lover in Huddersfield - has pleaded guilty to the murder of sex offender Hind.

Mitchell, 46, of Manchester Road, Cowlersley appeared at Leeds Crown Court yesterday afternoon and entered a guilty plea to the murder of Robert Hind in December last year.

A trial had been due to start at the court, with Mitchell previously refusing to enter a plea.

He appeared at Leeds Crown Court wearing a white and blue checked shirt and held his hands on his chin as he listened carefully to the brief proceedings.

A legal adviser read the indictment: “You are charged with murder. The particulars of the offence are that on 11 December 2013 you murdered Robert Hind. Are you guilty or not guilty?

Mitchell replied: “Guilty”.

Hind, 46, disappeared from an address in Dewsbury on Wednesday, December 11 last year. He had served time in prison for sex offences against boys.

Robert Hind
Robert Hind

After he vanished police warned the public, especially children, not to approach him.

He was spotted on CCTV in Huddersfield walking with another man on the evening of December 11 last year. Mitchell was carrying a large bag and Hind walked a pace behind him through the bus station councourse.

The image was circulated and the man accompanying him was identified as Mitchell.

Police divers later discovered human remains in the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in Milnsbridge. They had been called in to search the canal after sealing off a house in Cowlersley, where Mitchell had been living.

Mitchell was subsequently charged with murder and has been on remand.

A post mortem revealed Hind died as a result of strangulation and head injuries.

Judge Alan Wilkie heard from counsel at yesterday’s brief hearing and told the court: “I understand this is not the first occasion that he has been convicted of this offence.”

Judge Wilkie was referring to Mitchell’s previous conviction for murder of his girlfriend Kathleen McKenzie.

In 1991 Mitchell was jailed for life for the murder of his girlfriend.

He had bound the arms and legs of Miss McKenzie before drowning her at their home on Westgate, Almondbury, a year earlier.

Judge Alan Wilkie told Mitchell he was not going to sentence him immediately in relation to the Hind murder to allow for the preparation of pre-sentence reports.

The case will now be heard after August 4 at Leeds Crown Court.

David Mitchell freed from life sentence for murder just months before killing Robert Hind - click here to read

Murdered sex offender Robert Hind had indefinite jail sentence for abusing boy overturned on legal technicality - click here to read

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