Double killer battered neighbour to death while on licence, jury told

Pauline Quinn, 73, was found after paramedics were called to Rayton Spur in Worksop

A convicted double murderer who had been released on licence battered his neighbour to death with a coffee table, a jury has heard.

Lawrence Bierton was jailed in 1996 for the murders of two sisters.

After being released in 2017 and recalled to prison in 2018, Bierton was released on licence again in 2020.

In November 2021, Pauline Quinn, 73, was found dead at her home. Bierton denies her murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Prosecuting, John Cammegh KC said Bierton, 63, offended repeatedly until his conviction at Sheffield Crown Court for murdering two elderly sisters.

On Tuesday, Nottingham Crown Court heard after his initial release from prison, Bierton was recalled in 2018 for "repeated failures to address his behaviour" and drug and alcohol misuse.

He was then released again on licence in May 2020 and, "following concerns about his association with certain individuals", was offered a bungalow next to Mrs Quinn's rented council property in Rayton Spur, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, in November 2020.

The court heard an "alcohol tag" to monitor Bierton was then removed eight months before Mrs Quinn's death, after Bierton complained of swelling in his legs.

'Visceral' nature

Mr Cammegh said: "What is unusual about this case is that the defendant admits that he killed the deceased.

"What he did is not in issue. The issue for you to decide will be whether or not he was of diminished responsibility at the time."

Mr Cammegh said blood staining on the ceiling and walls at the home of Mrs Quinn, and skull and facial fractures, proved the "visceral" nature of the attack on her.

CCTV presented to the jury showed Mrs Quinn, who walked with a stick and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, returning to her home in her car at about 12:55 GMT on the day of her death.

Prosecutors say she was killed just after 16:00 on 9 November, when she pulled an emergency cord in her home.

Of a recording of the "lifeline" activation, in which banging could be heard, Mr Cammegh said: "This, we say, is when Lawrence Bierton murdered Pauline Quinn in her sitting room by striking her repeatedly about the head and about the face with a wooden coffee table."

'Keep her quiet'

Bierton is alleged to have removed remnants of the coffee table from Mrs Quinn's home in a carrier bag.

He is then said to have driven in her Renault Clio to a relative's property in Sheffield, arriving at about 21:00 on 9 November.

The court was told the relative, who knew nothing about Mrs Quinn's death, was given a lift to work in Barnsley by Bierton the following morning.

Bierton was arrested at 10:37 the same day, and taken to Sheffield's Shepcote Lane custody suite.

While at the police station, the jury was told, Bierton informed a nurse he was alcohol dependent and that he had smoked crack cocaine and consumed two bottles of rum on the day of the alleged murder.

In initial police interviews, the court heard he offered no comment and denied wrongdoing, but later made "various admissions" about hitting the victim with a table to "keep her quiet".

Bierton denies murder but has admitted a charge of theft.

The trial continues.