Emma Baum murder: Life sentence for crowbar killer

A man who battered his former girlfriend to death with a crowbar at her Gwynedd home has been jailed for life for her "brutal" murder.

Emma Louise Baum, 22, was found with a least 20 injuries to her head in Penygroes in July.

David Davies, 25, from Clynnog near Caernarfon, admitted murdering her after a row over access to his child.

Judge Keith Thomas, at Mold Crown Court, told Davies he must serve at least 22 years in prison.

During a three-day special hearing to establish how Davies killed his ex-partner, the court heard he had turned up at her home in the early hours of the morning on 18 July.

She let him in to the house on Llwyndu Road but the pair began bickering over their child and visiting rights.

The killer claimed he retrieved a crowbar from a rabbit hutch at the property and attacked Ms Baum.

"All I remember was walking out with the crowbar to the car... I didn't know I'd killed her. I knew I'd hurt her - but I didn't know she was dead," he said.

But Judge Thomas rejected his account and told him he believed he had arrived at the home armed with the crowbar.

"I'm satisfied that he took a weapon with him to frighten Ms Baum if she didn't give in to his demands," said the judge.

He added Davies had tried to give himself an alibi by returning to his former girlfriend's home and later sending text messages to her the following morning.

He also said he was satisfied there had been past incidents of violence and threats of violence by Davies towards Ms Baum.

Describing the killing, the judge said the "attack was brutal and sustained and designed to cause maximum harm".

Emma Baum's mother Amanda Williams wept part way through reading her victim impact statement to the court in which she said the murder had been a horrific act which had totally devastated her life and that of her family.

"To think that someone so close to my daughter could do such a thing is unbelievable and totally devastating," she said.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is also investigating the contact North Wales Police had with Ms Baum before the murder.

It is looking into contact with her on three previous occasions since April, and is considering the police response when officers had been called to Ms Baum's home by concerned neighbours shortly after the fatal attack, but left having found "nothing suspicious".

Gwynedd and Anglesey Community Safety Partnership is also carrying out a domestic homicide review.