Released on Licence, He Killed Within Days: Robert Sabat Jailed for Life for Murdering Ex-Partner Dickiesha Nurse

A 60-year-old man who had been freed from prison under revised early-release rules went on to stab his former partner to death less than two weeks later, a London court has heard. Robert Sabat, of Balham, south London, admitted murdering 42-year-old mother-of-two Dickiesha Nurse at her flat in Tulse Hill and was sentenced at the Old Bailey to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17 years.

The case has thrust the government's changes to automatic release dates for prisoners into the spotlight, after it emerged that Sabat had walked free from HMP Wandsworth on 17 October 2025, the day after he was sentenced to a 12-month jail term for possession of a bladed article and harassment. He had been held on remand since May 2025, meaning that by the time of his sentencing he had already served 40% of the term, satisfying the threshold for release under rules that had taken effect the previous month. Under the earlier regime, he would have been required to serve half his sentence before being considered for release on licence.

The changes formed part of a broader government effort to ease prison overcrowding by shortening the period some offenders must spend behind bars before automatic release. That policy was itself superseded last week, when the Sentencing Act 2026 came into force, allowing some prisoners to be released after serving just one third of their sentence. The rapid succession of rule changes has raised questions about whether risk assessments are keeping pace with the accelerated timetable for freeing inmates.

Prosecutors told the court that Sabat and Nurse had been in a relationship and had known each other for many years, as the defendant had been raised by her father. Two days after his release, Nurse's children visited her and reported on returning home that her "friend or cousin" had been at the address. By 22 October, she was telling a neighbour that Sabat was at her flat and refusing to leave, while another neighbour witnessed her shouting in the street: "Get out of my house."

The violence escalated in the days that followed. On 24 October, a neighbour heard a single scream coming from the victim's home. CCTV captured Nurse for the last time on 25 October. Her children attempted to visit the next day but received no answer when they knocked. It was not until 27 October, after family members raised concerns, that paramedics entered the flat — where, the court heard, Sabat charged at one of them while armed with a knife. The London Ambulance Service crew and relatives retreated and police were summoned. Armed officers then forced entry and used Tasers to detain him.

Inside, officers discovered Nurse lying on a bed with a pillow over her face and multiple stab wounds to her face. She was pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem examination identified approximately eight stab wounds, including injuries to the left side of her face, neck and hands. Police recovered a knife bearing her blood from the flat, along with a bag marked "HMP valuables" and prison records in Sabat's name — material that underscored how recently he had left custody.

The defendant's own words after arrest formed a significant part of the prosecution case. When detained on suspicion of Nurse's murder, Sabat claimed he had killed before and was planning a "murder spree." He told officers: "I'm a murderer, I don't want to come back out, I wanna go to jail... I've been let out a week. Let me back... I'm happy in there, I've done wrong. I killed before and got away with it. I've murdered three people so far. I'm gonna go on a murder spree."

Prosecutor Catherine Farrelly KC outlined the sequence of events leading to the killing, describing a man who had re-entered the community only to immediately resume a pattern of harassment and violence against a former partner. The court heard that Sabat's criminal record stretched back to 1987 and included convictions for burglary, assault, wounding with intent, knife possession and the harassment of an ex-partner. In 2013, he was made subject to a non-molestation order relating to a former partner, and in August 2023 he was handed a restraining order after being cleared of attempted murder when the complainant — his landlady — failed to attend court.

In mitigation, Alisdair Williamson KC said Sabat had lived "on the margins" with spells in jail and had struggled with his mental health, depression and anxiety. The judge nonetheless imposed a life sentence, reflecting the gravity of a killing carried out against a woman who had already sought to distance herself from him.

Victim impact statements painted a portrait of a woman whose loss has devastated those close to her. Nurse's sister, Samantha Carvalho, described Sabat as a "menace to society" and said the "heartlessness" of the killing was "impossible to comprehend." Her mother, Claudette McBean, remembered her daughter as kind, loving and the "life and soul of the party."

The case will add to the political pressure surrounding sentencing and release policy in England and Wales. Successive governments have grappled with a prison population that has repeatedly come close to capacity, prompting measures designed to shorten the time inmates spend in custody. Critics argue that such measures risk releasing individuals before they have had the chance to complete rehabilitative programmes — and in cases involving domestic abuse, before the danger they pose to specific victims has been properly managed.

Sabat's release after serving 40% of a 12-month term illustrates the speed with which the system can move an offender from custody back into the community. He had been sentenced on 16 October 2025 and was freed the following day. Within a week, according to his own account to police, he had already been let out and was contemplating further violence. Within a fortnight, his former partner was dead in her own home.

The Metropolitan Police and the Ministry of Justice have not, in the material available, indicated whether any internal review has been launched into the handling of Sabat's case, including the risk assessments that preceded his release and any contact between probation services and the victim. Such reviews are routine when an offender on licence is charged with a serious further offence, and the outcome will be closely watched by campaigners who argue that the rights and safety of victims of domestic abuse must be central to decisions about early release.

For Nurse's family, the sentence brings a measure of accountability but not closure. Her children, who twice came to her door in the days around her death — once to visit and once to check on her — were left to raise the alarm that ultimately led police into the flat. The killing has left a family mourning a woman remembered for her warmth, and a community in south London confronting how quickly a person released from prison can return to violence.