Double killer affected by alcohol during neighbour attack, court told

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

A convicted double murderer accused of battering his neighbour to death with a coffee table lost control due to his alcohol addiction, a court has heard.

Pauline Quinn, 73, was found dead at her Nottinghamshire home in November 2021 having suffered 29 separate injuries to her head and face.

Lawrence Bierton denies her murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility but has admitted theft.

The 63-year-old was jailed in 1996 for the murders of two elderly sisters.

Prosecutors said Mrs Quinn was beaten to death with the table just after 16:00 GMT at her home in Rayton Spur, Worksop, on 9 November 2021.

At time of the attack, Bierton was on licence from a life sentence for murdering the sisters.

'Mental abnormality'

On Monday, jurors at his trial at Nottingham Crown Court were told Bierton, who admitted to emergency services he was an alcoholic, had drunk several shots of rum and at least a quarter of a bottle of vodka on the morning before the attack.

His defence has argued he was significantly affected by alcohol dependency symptoms when he killed Mrs Quinn in the afternoon.

Giving evidence, forensic psychiatrist Dr Hany El-Metaal said alcohol dependency constituted a "mental abnormality" and withdrawal symptoms could have affected Bierton's state of mind by the time of the attack.

Dr El-Metaal said he believed Bierton would have had a "heightened sense of anxiety and panic regardless of the danger or perception of danger".

He said the "severe nature" of the killing, which he said had "no clear reason", was evidence of "a lack of control" which he believed pointed in favour of a "mental abnormality" caused by alcohol addiction.

Dr El-Metaal said the abnormality was a "significant contributory factor" in causing Bierton to kill Mrs Quinn.

'Calculated' actions

Bierton, who has not given evidence in his trial, was first released in 2017 and recalled to prison the following year for failing to address drug and alcohol issues.

He was then released on licence for the second time in May 2020, moving to Rayton Spur in November that year.

Prosecutors said the attack came after Mrs Quinn refused to give Bierton money for alcohol and pulled an emergency cord in her accommodation.

Dr El-Metaal said he believed this made Bierton fear a recall to prison over his substance misuse, which when combined with his alcohol dependency caused him to lose self-control.

John Cammegh KC, prosecuting, argued Bierton was in control of his "calculated" actions as CCTV showed him driving off in Mrs Quinn's car, visiting a relative to ask for money and removing pieces of the coffee table after the killing.

Dr El-Metaal, who said he had not seen the CCTV before, said that while these showed evidence of rational judgement, they did not change his view about the attack.

The trial continues.