‘Bob the builder’ handed life sentence

A man convicted of killing his 70-year-old friend has been handed a life sentence with no chance of parole for 13 years.

Gordon Shaw was sentenced for the murder of Bob Anderson on Tuesday. Anderson was found dead in his apartment in 2011. An autopsy determined he’d died after being struck in the back of the head.

Shaw, 62, was convicted of second-degree murder in mid-July by Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sterling Sanderman, who called Shaw an “accomplished yarn spinner” when delivering his verdict.

During the trial, court heard prosecution evidence that Shaw, who was staying with Anderson, fled the city in a taxi on the night of the older man’s death. Days later, a neighbour discovered Anderson deceased in his apartment.

Meanwhile, Shaw fled to British Columbia, where, months later, he was arrested and transferred back to Edmonton. However, when he failed to show up for court in 2014, a Canada-wide warrant was issued. He was arrested in 2016, again in B.C., after being discovered living under an alias and advertising his handyman services as “Bob the builder” in a local newspaper.

At one point during a police interview, Shaw confessed to hitting Anderson two or three times with a hammer, but his lawyers argued that Shaw had merely been accepting a theory put before him by police.

However, Sanderman found that Shaw told a number of lies, which made him untrustworthy.

In addition to not being permitted to apply for parole for 13 years, the court also ordered Shaw be subject to a lifetime firearms prohibition.