KILLER STARTS LIFE IN PRISON
MAN WHO MURDERED EMMA BAUM WITH A CROWBAR IS JAILED:
“I don’t know if he awoke and saw his mother in a pool of blood. I can only hope he did not” JUDGE KEITH THOMAS
A MAN who beat the mother of his young son to death with a crowbar has been jailed for life.
David Nicholas Davies must serve at least 22 years after he admitted murdering Emma Louise Baum following a heated argument.
The 25-year-old killed her in the back garden of her home in Ffordd Llwyndu, Penygroes, near Caernarfon.
During a four-day trial of issue, Mold Crown Court heard how she had more than 20 serious injuries to her head and face.
Judge Keith Thomas told Davies – who showed no emotion as he was led from the dock to begin his sentence – that his actions after commiting the murder had aggravated his situation.
He said Davies, from Clynnog, near Caernarfon, had showed a “careless disregard of others”, and described the deadly attack as “brutal and sustained”.
The judge said 22-year-old Emma, at five feet three inches and 10 stone, was physically no match for the sixfeet two-inch defendant. “In effect, she was defenceless to your attack upon her in her own home,” he said.
They had argued over contact with his son, and on the night of July 17 Davies went to her home with a crowbar intending to threaten her or cause damage at her house.
Her injuries showed the use of a crowbar in stabbing, slashing and bludgeoning motions. “It was a determined assault intending to result in death,” said the judge.
Having killed her with her son asleep upstairs, he left him alone in the house with his dead mum for six hours. “I don’t know if he awoke and saw his mother in a pool of blood. I only hope he did not,” added Judge Thomas.
Davies also got her mother to the house to find her partially clothed body by the back door as part of his “callous and calculated” effort to distance himself from the murder.
The judge said it had been a tragic and senseless loss of a young mother, adding his condolences to the family.
Earlier, Emma’s mum, Amanda Williams, had broken down while reading a statement in court. The murder has had devastating consequences on her family, she said, made worse by the fact Emma was killed by her former partner, whom she had known as ‘Dave’.
Detective Supt Iestyn Davies said: “This is a tragic case and we extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Emma Louise Baum, and we hope today’s sentence will bring a sense of justice to them.”
Police were called to the house at 10.45am on July 18. However, officers had visited the area after a report from neighbours of a possible disturbance shortly after 4am – the time of the attack. The matter has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.