The neighbour of a couple brutally assaulted in their own home earlier this year says they didn't expect the monster to be spotted on his CCTV.
This week a jury found Vasile Culea guilty of murdering Freda Walker, but he was cleared of murdering her husband Ken.
Culea, 34, snuck into the Walker's house in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, to steal £30,000 in cash that he believed was in the property.
The court heard distressing details of how he carried out the assault, tied the couple up and put a bag over Mrs Walker's head and left her for dead.
The prosecution said that if Mrs Walker, 86, had been given medical attention she had a chance of survival - but she was found dead the next day in the kitchen after neighbours raised concerns about the couple on January 15.
Mr Walker, 88, suffered serious injuries and died several months later, with his death listed as being of natural causes.
Culea is expected to be sentenced on Friday.
Residents living on the same road as the Walkers are in shock.
Douglas Steel, 78, who has lived in the house opposite Freda and Ken Walker's former home for 51 years, told Nottinghamshire Live about the morning that they were found.
He said: "We had a parcel being delivered that morning so my wife was up and about and it was at about 8 and the paramedics were already there, but that was before two ambulances came, five police cars and a forensic vehicle and we were cordoned off for about 14 days.
"It was a horrible thing and neither of them deserved anything like that at all. The house itself is empty now and I know they've been stripping it out - it was absolutely awful."
Another man who has lived on the street for more than 40 years says cops spotted Culea walking down the street from his security camera.
The man, who did not want to be named, said: "You don't expect a killer to be walking along your street but detectives took away a box with the footage and they managed to pick him up walking outside.
"All I can say is that Freda would have easily made 100 if this hadn't happened because she was still so fit and she was always doing things like gardening.
"It was sickening and it has left a sour taste in the mouth for everybody around here, I heard that Freda had just gone to put the cat out when this man sneaked into the house.
"I'm just glad that the jury has returned a guilty verdict and that they have obviously managed to see through this man. I think it's something that a lot of us feel is best forgotten now."
Russ Kirby, 65, who also lives on Station Road, said: "It is usually a quiet area and there was never anything like this before. I didn't know Ken and Freda myself but my wife knew Freda and they were a lovely couple by all accounts. It's obviously good that there has been this verdict and the family will now hopefully be able to try and move on with their lives."
A man who was visiting friends in Langwith Junction and who had been told about the incident said: "It is horrific when anything like this happens and of course it's the effect that it has on the community involved.
"I wasn't aware of the incident at the time but I was being driven through the area and the street was pointed out to me where this happened - it was shocking to hear."
Speaking outside Derby Crown Court, Ken and Freda Walker's niece, Sandra Bunting, said of Culea that he was "calculating, cruel, and had no conscience."
Andrew Baxter, the deputy chief crown prosecutor from the CPS, offered his sympathy to the Walkers' loved ones and said that the incident had left "a family grieving and a community in shock."
