A man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 34 years for murdering Freda Walker, 86, after he broke into her home, attacked her and her husband, tied them up and abandoned them.
Vasile Culea, 34, attacked Freda Walker and her husband, Kenneth Walker, 88, when he burgled their home in Langwith Junction, Derbyshire on 14 January after hearing they had stored a large amount of cash in the property.
Culea, a Romanian national, was also convicted of the wounding with intent of Kenneth, who was left with life-threatening injuries in the attack.
Passing sentence at Derby crown court on Friday, Mr Justice Henshaw said: “You brutally attacked them both leaving them with brain injuries, lacerations and many other injuries.
“Very sadly, Freda Walker died within an hour or so of this savage attack. Kenneth Walker, having previously been independent, became dependent on nurses for all of his needs.
He added: “You murdered Freda Walker for gain because you killed her in the course of the furtherance of your burglary.”
The trial heard Culea bound the couple by their hands and feet before searching their property for £30,000 in cash that he had heard was hidden inside from a conversation he overheard in a shop.
The prosecution said that on the evening of the attack, Culea hid in the garden and waited for Freda to open the door to let the cat out, forcing his way inside before launching a lengthy assault that left Kenneth with a broken neck.
Jurors heard the victims sustained “horrific” injuries, and that Freda had a reasonable prospect of survival had she not been “abandoned without any assistance” and “with coverings to her face obstructing her airway”.
She was later found to have died from head injuries and airway obstruction.
Culea’s barrister, Clive Stockwell KC, mitigating, suggested Culea’s violence had not been premeditated but spontaneous.
Culea had a previous conviction of assault in 2017, relating to an incident involving his then partner.
“The burglary, but not the murder of Mrs Walker, was planned and premeditated. The murder itself was not premeditated,” said Henshaw. “The crown submits that you must have been callously indifferent to whether she lived or died. I consider that that way of putting it is accurate.”
Culea had previously pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Freda , and to causing grievous bodily harm to Kenneth.
