Killer had confessed to brother

The unemployed 22-year-old lived with his mother and brother in the picturesque town of Welshpool, Powys.

But he was hiding a dark secret. He had borrowed – and gambled – a huge amount of money, leaving him £16,500 in debt.

He desperately scoured the internet for advice on debt and bankruptcy. But seeing no way out, his behaviour became sinister.

Harding began searching internet for sites giving advice on how to commit suicide. And in another grim twist, police found he had been scouring the web looking for information on how to rob and murder.

Search terms he used in late night web sessions included 'throat cutting, silent murder, silent death, how to kill someone, quick murders and jugular murders'.

But only he knew his desperation was about to turn to horrific violence.

He had been a 'client' at Rachael's, a massage parlour in the Frankwell area of Shrewsbury.

Harding, who yesterday dramatically changed his pleas to guilty just hours after his murder trial got under way at Birmingham Crown Court, told his brother he thought there would be a "good couple of grand" in the non-descript building.

On July 1 last year as England played Portugal in the World Cup quarter final, Harding caught the bus from Welshpool to Shrewsbury to embark on his deadly raid.

He sported black sunglasses and wore gloves, despite 30C temperatures.

After apparently phoning 55-year-old Annie Eels to check no other clients were at Rachael's, he made his way to the parlour.

Once inside he struck coolly and quickly, bringing the hammer crashing down on his two innocent victims. Both suffered terrible injuries with Mrs Eels receiving some 16 blows, while Wolverhampton mother Samantha Tapper, 23, was hit 14 times.

Detectives believe Mrs Eels was attacked as she sat on a sofa preparing to write Harding's name in the client book, which was found covered in blood.

After killing the pair, Harding frantically searched a back room, rummaging through draws in the search for cash. He left with only £330.

Mr Stephen Linehan QC, prosecuting, told the court: "He returned home, went upstairs to change. He sat with his brother watching the last part of the football match.

"His family detected nothing about his manner or appearance that showed them any change in him at all."

When the bodies were found early the next day, after friends failed to make contact with the women, West Mercia Police launched one of its biggest ever manhunts.

Police had no murder weapon, but CCTV had captured their prime suspect, wearing unseasonally heavy clothing.

And on August 21, more than seven weeks after the killings, detectives took the unusual step of releasing pictures captured on cameras dotted around the town.

Harding's face was splashed across newspapers and TV stations across the region.

"The defendant was at his home in Welshpool on that day, watching TV. He saw the images of himself and heard the appeal," Mr Linehan said. "He knew it was inevitable he would be identified to the police."

Harding decided to write a letter, confessing in detail to the killings. It explained how he had struggled with gambling debts and how he had stolen between £300 and £400 from Rachael's.

He calmly admitted he had taken a hammer from the garden shed and gone on to savagely attack his victims.

At 11.30pm, he took the note to his brother and gave him strict instructions not to open it for five minutes. Harding began walking to Welshpool police station to hand himself in. His brother, who could not believe what he was reading, chased after him, persuading him to turn back. The two men spoke through the night, with Harding's brother saying: "Surely you didn't do this?".

Harding later confessed to his mother, who ordered him to hand himself in. He travelled back to Welshpool police station, which was shut. He told an officer over the intercom: "I've come to hand myself in."

In police interviews, he had a sudden change of heart, insisting the women were alive and well when he left the parlour.

Yesterday morning – 10 months after the tragedy – he was still maintaining his innocence. Then, at 2.15pm with the court resumed after lunch, Harding's lawyer asked for the charges to be put again. He replied guilty to both charges, to gasps of relief from the public gallery.