A handyman who bludgeoned an 85-year-old woman to death with a hammer and stole her £7,000 diamond ring has been jailed for life.
Paul Prause, 65, was given a minimum life term of 22 years at the Old Bailey on Friday, after pleading guilty to the murder of Rosina Coleman at her home in Romford, east London.
Prause, also from Romford, called the emergency services immediately after the attack on 15 May and invented a story about how he had discovered Coleman on the bedroom floor. The odd-job man, who said he had known the great-grandmother and former seamstress for at least five years, claimed to have entered the house after becoming concerned when he received no reply when arriving for work.
But detectives established that Prause’s account of his movements that day were false. Additionally, a finger from a latex glove caught in the door handle of a wardrobe in Coleman’s bedroom matched the handyman’s DNA profile and that of his victim. The opened packet of latex gloves was found in Prause’s car.
DCI Paul Considine, from the Met’s homicide and major crime command, said: “Rosina, known to her friends and family as Rose, was the victim of a despicable and ruthless murder by someone she trusted to enter her home to carry out work.
“Prause pretended he had just come across this terrible crime when in reality he was Rose’s attacker. He lied to officers until the evidence caught him out and he was forced to admit he had hit her repeatedly with a hammer.”
Sentencing Prause, Judge Philip Katz QC described Coleman’s wounds, inflicted by at least 11 blows, as “sickening” and said “her terror can only be imagined”.
Having initially denied responsibility, Prause then told detectives he became angry after Coleman made a jokey comment about him needing to grow up and responded by attacking her with a hammer he was holding. But police and the prosecution said he killed Coleman when she confronted him as he attempted to steal her jewellery.
The £7,000 diamond ring was found in his shed. The hammer and clothing he was wearing at the time of the attack were recovered from the River Rom.
Coleman, who had five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, had stopped breathing by the time paramedics arrived, and could not be resuscitated. A postmortem revealed she died from head and neck injuries.
She was described as a well-respected and independent lady who enjoyed gardening and making dresses and attended the Royal British Legion club on Saturday nights.
In an impact statement, Coleman’s son Robert attributed a decline in his health to his mother’s death.
Her daughter, Sharon Thomas, said: “When Mum first met Paul and employed him on recommendation from her friend, we all had our doubts about him but she said, ‘No he is OK.’ I always believed that Mum was a good judge of character. How wrong were we.
“There is not a part of my life this has not affected, from my relationships, how I trust people and even [to] the way I wonder what people think about.”
