A drinker who killed his frail and vulnerable grandfather before he assaulted two victims at a working men’s club has been jailed for 15 years.
Warwick Crown Court heard well-known Jaguar restoration expert John Brown, aged 81, died six days after being attacked in his home by 33-year-old Jakob Walpole on the night of November 23 last year.
Jurors found Walpole, of School Road, Bulkington, Warwickshire, guilty of manslaughter, breaching a restraining order and two counts of assault, but cleared him of murder after a three-week trial.
Walpole was handed the custodial sentence on Monday with a further two years on extended licence.
The defendant sat in the dock at Warwick Crown Court wearing a grey tracksuit with his head down while Judge Kristina Montgomery KC sentenced him and said: “(Mr Brown) was an exceptionally small man in deteriorating physical health who had been diagnosed with dementia.
“Your visits (to Mr Brown’s home) were made to exploit his love… by taking money from both your grandparents to fund your lifestyle. You were an intimidating and persistent nuisance in their lives.”
The court heard that on the night Walpole attacked his grandfather, Mr Brown “stood up to” the defendant who was asking for money, before the elderly man was struck to the head.
Walpole repeatedly said “shut up” from the dock while his mother Lynda Brown read a victim impact statement to the court.
Ms Brown said: “The tears we have shed could fill buckets and I live with the knowledge my son caused the death of my beloved father.
“Even though he’s been in prison, we are still in fear. Mum is terrified he will be back knocking at the door or her bedroom window.
“She lives in this fear constantly and we fear the day he’s released again.”
Mr Brown was well known in the local community, having run a successful car panel and body repair business thanks to his expertise in respect of vintage cars.
Opening the Crown’s case last month, prosecutor Michael Duck KC said Walpole had been “drinking throughout the day” and committed two assaults at Bulkington Working Men’s Club around an hour after attacking his grandfather.
Walpole bought a small bottle of vodka from a shop in Bulkington at about 9am, before attending a match at Coventry City’s home stadium in the afternoon.
After attacking his grandfather, Walpole smashed a pint glass over the back of a club member’s head in an incident caught on the “clearest possible” CCTV footage, before assaulting a bar worker while he was being physically removed from the club.
Mr Brown’s daughter installed security cameras at her parents’ home in St James Gardens, Bulkington, because of Walpole’s “deteriorating” behaviour, and the pensioner was recorded in a “haunting” video gesturing for help towards the camera before the attack.
The prosecutor said at the beginning of the defendant’s trial: “The reality is that on the 23rd of November, in drink, Jakob Walpole descended to a tirade of violence.”
