A "callous and calculating" heroin user who killed three people in less than a week has been convicted of raping one of his victims, a woman who was five months pregnant, before he murdered her.
Anthony Russell had previously pleaded guilty to murdering Julie Williams, 58, and her son David Williams, 32, at separate flats in Coventry on October 21 and October 25, 2021. He had also admitted to the October 26 murder of Nicole McGregor, 31, who was found in woodland near Leamington Spa three days later.
Russell was unanimously found guilty of raping Ms McGregor after a retrial at Warwick Crown Court on Thursday. The unanimous decision was delivered after only an hour and 23 minutes of deliberations by the jury.
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The 39-year-old assaulted the then-pregnant Ms McGregor hours after she had shown him a picture of her baby scan, the court heard.
Russell had also told the expectant father, Ms McGregor’s partner: “I bet you can’t wait for it to be born,” in the hours after she disappeared – knowing he had raped and killed her, the court heard.
Police were first alerted to the murders when Mrs Williams called 999 to report that her son was missing, West Midlands Police said. Days later, Mrs Williams' sister rang the police to say that she was now missing as well.
Officers forced their way into Mrs Williams' house and found her dead on the living room floor, having been violently attacked. Officers raided Russell’s home in Riley Square, Coventry, after a tip-off that he had confessed to killing Julie and David Williams. There they found Mr Williams’ body hidden under a bed.
Police said Mr Williams was strangled with a lanyard by the killer. His body was recovered five days after the attack and had a total of 87 injuries.
Afterwards, Russell claimed he had killed a man who “had had sex with his girlfriend”. He strangled Mr Williams' mother in a "violent and sustained attack" in which he hit her five times on the head and neck, prosecutors said. She was left with 113 separate injuries and is believed to have been killed upon discovering Russell had murdered her son.
CCTV footage of Ms McGregor, who lived in a flat in Leamington Spa, was shown to the jury during the trial. It showed her walking alongside Russell at 7.45pm on October 26.
During her opening speech, prosecutor Zoe Johnson QC said of the footage: “This is the last time Nicole is seen alive.
“Just three hours after meeting the defendant it appears that Nicole has agreed to walk with the defendant into Newbold Comyn.
“We suggest that the defendant lured Nicole on to the Comyn, not for sex but more likely for drugs.
“The defendant murdered Nicole McGregor shortly after that image was captured, just hours after they had met.”
After committing the shocking murder, Russell pretended to help Ms McGregor's partner look for her. The killer eventually became the subject of a national manhunt - he attempted to flee Leamington by robbing a car from a 78-year-old man.
Russell rang the innocent man's doorbell to ask for direction - when the victim was distracted, he hit him over the head from behind with a brick, leaving him with a fractured skull and a bleed in the brain. The ruthless killer was eventually arrested on October 30 after police spotted the stolen Ford C-Max parked on a road near Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire - Russell was in the back seat.
While being booked into custody, Russell admitted to officers: "I admit it, I did it".
Russell, of Riley Square, Coventry, is due to be sentenced on Friday.
Det Supt Shaun Edwards, from the West Midlands Police homicide team, said: “This was a violent series of killings which happened over a period of just seven days, but which have left two families devastated for the rest of their lives.
“We believe that David was killed due to Russell’s mistaken belief that he was in a relationship with his girlfriend.
“When Russell went to speak to Julie about her son’s disappearance, we suspect that he confessed to David’s killing. He then killed Julie to stop her from speaking to the police.
“There’s no known link between Russell and Nicole, and it appears to be pure chance that he has encountered her.
“The huge effort that went into tracking Russell down, including national media appeals, can’t be overstated. We worked around the clock to bring him to justice, and I’m glad that that is what has happened today.
“The thoughts of everyone involved in this investigation are with the families of David and Julie, and Nicole, as well as the victims he robbed, today.”
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