Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Pair get 11 years for gran’s murder

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household names such as Mitsubishi, Honda, Nissan and Panasonic – which employ thousands of workers across the UK – met at No 10 amid concern over estimates of the impact of Brexit on economic growth. BANK of England boss Mark Carney has braced borrowers for further and faster interest rate hikes after stronger-than-expected economic growth.

Policymake­rs on the Bank’s nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimousl­y to leave rates unchanged at 0.5%.

But Mr Carney said rates would need to rise sooner and by more than expected at the time of the Bank’s last forecasts in November to get inflation back to target. A CEREMONIAL key designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and used to open Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is to be auctioned to help raise funds for the building’s restoratio­n.

Experts said the key has not been seen in public since the opening ceremony in 1899. It was presented to Sir James King, then Lord Provost of Glasgow, after the front door of the renowned building was unlocked.

The key was passed down through the King family to the current day Sir James King who hopes its sale will encourage others to contribute to the Mackintosh Campus Appeal and help restore the building following A FORMER soldier and his mother killed his 84-year-old grandmothe­r by giving her a cocktail of pills and whisky before smothering her out of a “misguided belief” that the murder was an “act of mercy”, a court has heard.

Barry Rogers, 33, and his mother, Penelope John, 50, will each serve at least 11 years for murdering former nurse Betty Guy at her home in Pembrokesh­ire on November 7, 2011.

At Swansea Crown Court yesterday, Mr Justice Lewis said the pair had “never accepted responsibi­lity” and that what they had done was murder because the “law does not permit one person to end the life of another”.

He said: “The killing was based on the wrong and misguided belief that Mrs Guy was old and ill and wanted to die and that you should end her life.

“To that limited extent the murder was based on a belief – a misguided belief – held by each of you that the murder was an act of mercy.”

Rogers and John, who were found guilty after a trial, nearly got away with the killing but came under suspicion in 2015 after one a fire in 2014. Sir James said: “With opportunit­ies provided by the restoratio­n of the building for a new era for GSA, it seems entirely fitting and the right moment to hand over the inaugural key to a new patron.”

The key will be part of the Decorative Arts: Design Since 1860 sale at Lyon and of Rogers’ ex-girlfriend­s reported him to the police.

It emerged that the former technician in the Royal Corps of Signals had told three former partners he had killed his “nan” by putting a pillow over her face.

Police arrested mother and son in November 2016 and placed a bug in John’s home which recorded them discussing the killing, including Rogers telling John she had nothing to worry about because “it’s me that’s the one that’s done the act”.

Paramedics were called to Mrs Guy’s home in the early hours of November 7, 2011 by John, who said her mother had died and had been suffering from cancer.

Medics believed Mrs Guy had died from Turnbull in Edinburgh on April 11. The auction house said it will also make a donation to the fund.

Professor Tom Inns, director of GSA, said: “This key is a poignant reminder of that heritage at a time when we are focused on the sympatheti­c and authentic restoratio­n of the building.” natural causes and her body was cremated days later.

Mr Justice Lewis said Mrs Guy, who he described as a “cheerful, lively and wellliked person”, was not terminally ill, did not have cancer and was neither bedbound nor in unbearable pain.

He said Rogers and John were “equally culpable” and each had their “role to play” in the agreement to end Mrs Guy’s life.

“You, Ms John, decided that the time had come to kill your mother,” he said.

“You arranged for your son to come and carry out the killing, you gave your mother drugs, intending to sedate her.

“You, Barry Rogers, were the one to place the pillow over Mrs Guy’s face and to suffocate her.”

Earlier, the court heard a victim impact statement from Mrs Guy’s daughter, Lorraine Matthews, who said her mother “loved life” and “loved a little giggle”.

In it, she said: “We grieved once after her death and now we have to go through a different kind of grief.”

Ms Matthews said she was “shocked that a member of my own family is capable of committing such a despicable act”.

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