Life sentence for ‘carer’ who punched and kicked elderly man to death
CONCERNED NEIGHBOURS MADE RECORDINGS OF TERRIFIED SCREAMS
DEVIOUS murderer Magdalena Kissova has been jailed for life, with a recommendation she serve a minimum 24 years, after her savage attack ended the life of a frail and defenceless Derby pensioner.
Manipulative Kissova had wheedled her way into the life of poor David Allsopp for free board and lodging. But shortly after moving into his Manchester Street flat she started subjecting the vulnerable 67-year-old to what a judge said were almost daily beatings.
Neighbours and carers described him cowering in her presence and they recorded him screaming in pain as she bellowed at him.
Even on the day she viciously stamped on, kicked and punched him to death the 47-year-old killer calmly convinced Mr Allsopp’s loving twin sister he was “just asleep in bed”.
Jailing Kissova for life, with a minimum of 24 years, at Derby Crown Court, Judge Nirmal Shant QC said: “You brutally killed David Allsopp in February of this year and no sentence I pass can ease the pain his twin sister feels. I have read her victim impact statement and in it she says ‘now that David has gone it feels like a big part of me is also dead’.
“He was 67, he was vulnerable, he had dementia and after moving in with him, I am entirely satisfied that you began issuing almost daily beatings on him. We have heard recordings made by his neighbours of his harrowing screams. They describe him cowering from you when you went near him.
“And even when his sister came to see him on February 14, you told her he was asleep, when in all likelihood he was either already dead or was dying in bed. You convinced her he was still alive and then you fled. You literally sought to get away with murder.”
Vanessa Marshall QC, prosecuting, said until moving to the flat, in 2017, Mr Allsopp had been living in Normanton but prostitutes and criminals had been taking advantage of his vulnerability – he was an alcoholic – and used his property.
She said he moved and carers would come to see him twice a day and then one day Kissova had moved in.
Miss Marshall said concerns were raised after they regularly saw him with injuries to his head and face, which the devious defendant told them were caused by falls.
Neighbours also raised concerns, reporting incidents to police and even making recordings of the thuds and screams they heard coming from the flat. Some of these were played in court and in them Mr Allsopp can be heard clearly in pain as Kissova shouts “get up, get up” repeatedly at him.
Miss Marshall said one neighbour heard Kissova shouting the same word over and over again at the terrified victim. She said he looked up the word in Google and it came back as meaning “devil” in Serb-Croat.
Miss Marshall said: “The last person to see Mr Allsopp alive was Laura Adams, a carer, who dropped off medication with him on the afternoon of February 13.
“What happened to him after that remains sketchy because even though she had pleaded guilty to murder, she has never said what she did to him.”
Miss Marshall said on February 14, Brenda, Mr Allsopp’s twin, went to see him and was told by Kissova he was asleep. In reality she had killed him and fled to Manchester, taking his TV with her.
Miss Marshall said Mr Allsopp’s heavily beaten body was discovered in his bed by the same carer in the early afternoon of February 15.
She said: “Professor Guy Rutty, a Home Office forensic pathologist, carried out the post-mortem examination and found 36 fresh injuries to Mr Allsopp’s body.
“They covered most of his body and his conclusion was that they were likely to have been caused by a series of punches and kicks including a stamping.
“He certified the cause of death as blunt force trauma, the significant injuries being to his chest and neck.
“Several ribs were broken in multiple places so the rib cage had become partly detached. This would have caused severe pain. There were ligature marks around his neck and it is entirely possible the defendant had used a bed sheet to cause these.
“Professor Rutty was asked if the injuries could have been caused in a fall, but he said not. He said it was most likely they were cause by someone deliberately kicking or stamping.”
Kissova was arrested at 2.45am on February 16 at an address in Manchester. She told the police they must have come about the stolen TV but when she was told she was being arrested on suspicion of murder she denied any responsibility.
After initially pleading not guilty to murder in June, she changed her plea to guilty in August.
Michael Auty QC, mitigating, said: “She knows and understands it will be imprisonment for life and that I am addressing the court about the minimum term.
“She came to the UK lawfully from the Czech Republic and there came a time when her documentation entitling her to live here expired and that removed from her the entitlement of state support and the situation plainly deteriorated.”
Speaking after sentencing, Det Insp Steve Shaw, who led the investigation into Mr Allsopp’s murder, said: “Kissova’s actions were calculated and cruel.
“She gained the trust of Mr Allsopp who was an extremely vulnerable dementia sufferer and became his self-appointed ‘carer’, during which time she exploited him rather than taking care of him. She then went on to murder him and fled to Manchester.
“Today’s sentence cannot undo the suffering that Mr Allsopp endured at Kissova’s hand and nor can it heal his family’s loss, but we hope that it brings some comfort to them in knowing that Kissova is off the streets and unable to do the same to another vulnerable person.”
He was 67, he was vulnerable, he had dementia ... you began issuing almost daily beatings. Judge Nirmal Shant QC