A burglar has been convicted of murdering an 86-year-old woman in her home after beating, gagging and tying her up and leaving her to die.
Vasile Culea was also found guilty of the wounding with intent of Freda Walker’s 88-year-old husband, the former district councillor and alderman Kenneth Walker, during the attack in January.
The court heard Culea bound the couple by their hands and feet before searching their property in Langwith Junction, Derbyshire, for £30,000 in cash that he had heard was hidden inside.
The 34-year-old, a warehouse operative, falsely claimed Freda Walker “fell over” during the attack and he may have injured her by slipping on a spilt drink and stepping on her chest.
Culea, who had admitted manslaughter of Freda Walker and the grievous bodily harm of her husband, was accused by prosecutors in court of fabricating “a nonsense” to cover for a “savage and sustained” attack on the couple that went “far beyond any justification”.
He claimed to have targeted the property, where he spent more than three hours, after overhearing a conversation in a shop between two strangers in which they talked about a “wealthy house” containing thousands of pounds in cash.
The cash was discovered afterwards by police search teams, with the jury hearing evidence that Kenneth Walker had forgotten where he had stored the money in the home they had lived in for more than 60 years.
The prosecution said that on the evening of the attack Culea hid in the garden and waited for Freda Walker to open the door to let the cat out, forcing his way inside before launching a violent and lengthy assault that left Kenneth Walker with a broken neck.
Jurors heard the victims sustained “horrific” injuries, and that Freda Walker had had a reasonable prospect of survival had she not been “abandoned without any assistance” and “with coverings to her face obstructing her airway”.
Michael Auty KC, prosecuting, said Freda Walker suffered a fatal brain injury and was found dead in the kitchen by emergency services the day after the attack, after the pair were discovered by a neighbour.
CCTV showed Culea spent two hours in a bookmaker’s on the day of the attack. He claimed it was gambling away his money that prompted him to attempt the burglary.
Jurors deliberated for two hours and 15 minutes before returning unanimous verdicts.
Andrew Baxter, the deputy chief crown prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service, said Culea’s attack was “savage, sustained and beyond any justification”. “He showed no mercy, subjecting them to a terrifying ordeal,” he said.
Kenneth Walker, a former miner at Shirebrook colliery and later a Bolsover district councillor, had been diagnosed with lung cancer a short while before the attack.
DI Carolyne Van Schaick said: “While Kenneth may have survived the attack, he had lost his wife and lived out his remaining days requiring constant care before he sadly passed away shortly before this case was due to be heard.
“All their friends and family have told of how they have both led hard-working lives and always put others first. There is no doubt that having worked so hard over the years that Freda and Kenneth deserved a long, happy retirement and peace in their later years.”
Culea will be sentenced on Friday.
