Addict who attacked 94-year-old jailed for murder

Paul Topham said he had been smoking "Black Mamba" and drinking super-strength beer or cider all day before the attack

A drug addict who repeatedly beat a 94-year-old man as he burgled his home has been jailed for life for his murder.

Paul Topham attacked victim Harold Monk in his Wolverhampton home, causing him fractures to his face, skull, spine and ribs in the attack in October last year.

He died a day later in hospital but, despite his injuries, managed to tell police through an oxygen mask what had happened to him.

Topham was convicted of murder in July at Wolverhampton Crown Court and was told on Thursday he must serve a minimum of 33 years.

Topham is thought to have obtained a key fob and flat key belonging to Mr Monk during a visit to his mother at the same sheltered housing scheme, jurors were told.

Mr Monk, a great-grandfather, told detectives he awoke in the early hours to see a male figure wearing black clothes and a face covering.

He asked Topham what he was doing before he pushed him to the floor and then straddled him and "launched a prolonged assault", the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Police were alerted by a neighbour who heard banging and groaning.

Harold Monk spoke to police from his hospital bed before his death

Topham, of Palmerston Road in Birmingham, told jurors he had struggled with "out-of-control drug addiction" and had committed burglaries to feed his habit and while he was "off his face" during the incident.

The court heard he had been smoking "Black Mamba" and drinking super-strength beer or cider all day but said he was "disgusted, ashamed and repulsed by the devastation I've caused his poor family".

He stayed the night at his mother's property at Inglewood Court in Bradmore the weekend before the incident, which is when he is thought to have taken the keys to Mr Monk's flat.

Sentencing him, Judge Michael Chambers KC said: "Mr Monk had lived a good life with many interests and achievements. He lived relatively independently for his age and played a full part in the community.

"The family were looking forward to celebrating his 95th birthday - instead, he died a violent death at a location where he should have felt safe."

Mr Chambers said he was not convinced Topham was remorseful and was instead more concerned about himself.

He said: "I accept there was no planned intention to kill or to assault Mr Monk, and I accept that in one sense there is a lack of premeditation, but in my judgment that is a simplistic view.

"It is accepted you didn't set out to kill or assault, but neither was what you did spur of the moment."

Mr Monk's daughter, Patricia Monk, said her father was a "wonderful human being who was loved dearly by his family".

Jonathan Roe, from the CPS, said: "This was an utterly callous and senseless crime that robbed Harold Monk of his final years and caused immeasurable pain to his loved ones. Paul Topham showed no mercy as he brutally attacked a defenceless 94-year-old man in his own home, where he should have felt safest."