Mario Celaire National Pictures / Steve Terrell

A VIOLENT footballer who was cleared of murder after beating up his ex-girlfriend and leaving her to die faces jail today after he admitted killing her.

Mario Celaire was charged over the death of Cassandra McDermott for a second time after senior judges quashed the 2002 jury verdict in a rare legal move.

He has since carried out a savage attack with a hammer, in which he left another young woman permanently brain-damaged.

Celaire, 31, has now admitted the manslaughter of McDermott in October 2001 and the attempted murder of Kara Hoyte in February 2007. They were both 19.

The Old Bailey heard that he was prone to "extreme violence" and had a history of physically abusing McDermott, leaving her bruised to the body and face.

Celaire began going out with McDermott when she was just 15 and started stalking her when she dumped him after a four-year relationship in which she was punched, kicked and thrown down the stairs, subsequently meeting a new man.

McDermott was killed while house-sitting for mother Jennifer, a senior probation officer, at her home in Norbury, south London, while she was on holiday in the West Indies.

Celaire had either punched her or pushed her head into furniture, knocking her out and leaving her to choke on a Chinese takeaway.

His relationship with Hoyte followed a similar pattern and after their split he attacked, leaving her with "life-changing" injuries.

Celaire, a former Maidstone United player, was warned today he faced a "very significant" jail sentence by Judge Paul Worsley.

It marks the end of a seven-year fight for justice by Miss McDermott's family, who were in court to see prosecutors formally accept Celaire's pleas.

Sister Andrea McDermott, 30, said: "We knew Mario killed Cassie. Today we have been vindicated. We have had to wait eight years for it - eight years of hell."

Celaire, of Sydenham Road, Sydenham, south-east London, will be sentenced on July 3 following a psychiatric report.

Simon Denison QC, prosecuting, said the new investigation into McDermott's death included fresh evidence of his previous violence towards her and others.

Her mother told police she had once urged her daughter to leave Celaire and talked to her about domestic violence after seeing her with a black eye. Mrs McDermott reported him for criminal damage in 1998 after he kicked her door in.

A friend said Celaire had once knocked McDermott out by punching her down the stairs.

In January 1999, she was left with bruises and a broken wrist and told officers she had been punched and kicked by Celaire.

The next month she called out police claiming she was being assaulted and they saw her being dragged back to a car.

The incident led to both being arrested for affray.

Celaire later admitted responsibility for killing her to Hoyte, after she found case papers from his trial and challenged him about it.

Today's decision spares Hoyte the gruelling ordeal of giving evidence and facing cross-examination by a defence barrister.

One officer said she had suffered "quite catastrophic" and "life-changing" injuries to her brain in Celaire's hammer attack.

She was left barely able to communicate, and special arrangements were put in place to give her main testimony via a recorded interview and face questions through a video link to the court.

During a pre-trial hearing the judge had to speak slowly and carefully to her as she sat in an adjoining video suite with a police officer beside her to help her through proceedings.

Celaire, who was also known as Mario McNish, was today warned he is likely to face life imprisonment or an indeterminate jail sentence for public protection.