'Monster' triple killer handed whole-life jail term for bludgeoning elderly neighbour with coffee table

A 'monster' triple killer will spend his whole life behind bars after murdering his elderly neighbour by bludgeoning her with a table while on licence.

Lawrence Bierton battered 73-year-old Pauline Quinn to death with her coffee table at her home in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, on November 9 2021. The 63-year-old alcoholic had been given accommodation in Rayton Spur, a complex for elderly and vulnerable people, after being released from jail on licence for murdering two elderly sisters in 1995.

Bierton had asked Ms Quinn, who lived alone, had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and walked with a stick, for money for alcohol at around 4pm on the day of the killing, having drunk vodka and rum and taken crack cocaine and Subutex, an opioid, that morning.

Read more: Jurors retire to consider verdicts in Brianna Ghey murder trial

Read more court news from the Manchester Evening News here.

After she refused, he pushed her to the floor, beginning the fatal attack which prosecutors said was sparked by a fear of returning to prison over his substance misuse. Ms Quinn was able to pull a red emergency cord in her home, which recorded audio of Bierton repeatedly striking her with the coffee table.

The defendant was found guilty of Ms Quinn’s murder after a two-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court. Jurors took less than an hour to convict Bierton after hearing he left Ms Quinn with 29 separate injuries, striking her 10 times to the head, resulting in a fractured skull and brain damage.

Handing Bierton a whole-life order on Wednesday, Mr Justice Pepperall said: “You have been found guilty of the senseless and brutal murder of three elderly and disabled women in their own homes. You showed each of the victims no mercy."

He said