A SERIOUS DANGER TO ALL WOMEN
One murder wasn’t enough for him – he soon proved he was... FREED...TO KILL AGAIN
ANTHONY Ayres looked at the jury of six men and six women at Chelmsford Crown Court.
They’d been considering the facts of the case for less than four hours.
Few people in the court had any doubt as to what their verdict would be.
The foreman of the jury, standing as directed by the judge, said one word. “Guilty.” The victim’s friends and family gasped and shouted, “Yes!” from the public gallery.
Ayres had been found guilty of the murder of 36-year-old Kelly Pearce.
In November 2015, Ayres had launched a ferocious hammer attack on her before stabbing her in the face and neck 40 times.
If that wasn’t bad enough, this was the second time the 49-year-old had been found guilty of murder.
Strangling
He knew what was coming – prison for the rest of his life.
In 1994 he was jailed for a minimum of 19 years for strangling his partner, Dawn Wisdom, to death.
Ayres was just 27 when he killed Dawn after she told him she had aborted their unborn baby.
He saw red after she told him: “I got rid of it because it’s yours.”
Dawn’s lifeless body was found by her devastated parents at her east London flat in September 1993.
Ayres claimed he was innocent but was convicted.
That wasn’t the first time Ayres had been in trouble for violence against women. Five years earlier, he’d throttled his girlfriend to the point where she passed out.
Twelve months after that he strangled another girlfriend.
Ayres was released on licence in March 2012 after the end of his sentence for killing Dawn.
He lived at Felmores bail hostel, in Pitsea, Essex, before moving to Canvey Island to be closer to his family.
He got work as a gardener – a trade he learned in prison – but was soon unemployed due to flooding on the island.
Paranoid
So on November 19, 2015, he returned to his old trade – murder.
Kelly Pearce’s death happened at the home of a drug user and paranoid schizophrenic called Joseph Withers.
During Ayres’ two-week trial, the court heard that Withers was locked out of his flat in Fairlop Avenue, Canvey, by Ayres, who then launched the frenzied attack on Kelly in the bathroom.
Withers said he was discussing borrowing money from Ayres when the killer had suddenly “flipped”.
After he managed to get inside, he told the court he saw Ayres wielding a hammer.
Withers fled the scene and called the police.
When paramedics arrived at the scene, Kelly was still breathing, but gasping for air.
Despite their desperate efforts to save her life, she died in hospital from her shocking injuries.
A manhunt was launched as Ayres had fled the scene.
He was arrested in Southend-on-Sea the next day after being spotted by an off-duty police officer.
He told them he was going to hand himself in anyway after a friend living in Basildon told him police were searching for him.
Wounds
He was wearing a blood-stained jumper and jeans. He also had cuts to his hands, thought to be knife wounds.
During the trial that followed, Ayres tried to claim that he hadn’t
killed Kelly and sought to pin the blame on Withers.
Ayres told the court that he stumbled across Kelly, who was seriously injured, and held her as she drew her final breaths.
Giving evidence, he told the jury the brutal attack was carried out before he turned up at the flat where Withers lived.
According to defence barrister Oliver Saxby, Withers had a motive to kill Kelly because she claimed he had raped her.
Mr Saxby said: “If Anthony Ayres is not the killer then a prime suspect would be the other person in the house – a paranoid schizophrenic.”
Withers had suffered psychotic episodes, which were exacerbated when he took drugs, and had previously threatened to use a knife.
But the jury saw Ayres’ lies for what they were and found him guilty.
During sentencing, Justice Maura McGowan told Ayres she had no choice but to jail him for life.
Addressing him, she said: “Less than three years after you were released from prison you killed Kelly Pearce.
“You took a knife and a hammer to the flat where you knew she was.
“You then set about an attack of extraordinary brutality which, in my view, amounted to sadism.
“Kelly’s addiction to hard drugs had blighted her life in recent years.
“But all the witnesses we have heard from said she was fun and kind. She had a big heart as well as a warm and open personality.
Lessons
“All that has gone. “Her son grows up without a mother.
“The only sentence I can pass in accordance with the law is a whole life sentence.”
Evil Ayres showed no emotion as he was led from the dock and into the cells.
As is usual in these cases, the authorities wrung their hands and parroted “lessons must be learned”.
Essex’s police and crime commissioner, Roger Hirst, said work had to be done to prevent convicted murderers from offending again after their release from prison in the wake of Ayres’ guilty verdict.
He said: “As disclosed during the trial, Anthony Ayres had a history of acts of extreme violence.
“When he was previously found guilty of murder in 1994, it was reported that the judge described him as representing a ‘serious danger to all women’.
“His subsequent murder of Kelly Pearce in 2015 has highlighted the risks of releasing serious offenders on licence and of the challenges of properly monitoring them in the community.
“It is essential that all relevant agencies, including the probation services, the police, local authorities and the
NHS, work closely to prevent such tragedies from happening.
“Crucially, we need to understand why the monitoring arrangements put in place in this case were ineffective.
“A review of these procedures is needed.
“I extend my heartfelt condolences to Kelly’s family.”
Cowardly
After the jury found Ayres guilty of murder, prosecutor Cairns Nelson read out a statement from Kelly’s mother, Lynn Wallings.
In it, she said: “On November 19, 2015, Kelly was cowardly and brutally murdered at the hands of Anthony Ayres.
“On that day my life, and that of her family, was shattered forever.
“Since her death I have found it difficult to smile or laugh or live with any sense of happiness.
“Part of my heart and my life was also taken when Kelly died.”
Lynn said that she now has nightmares and suffers from anxiety.
Kelly also left behind her stepdad, Richard, who had brought her up since she was 15, as well as her sister, Lisa, and only son, Josh.
Lynn added: “Kelly loved Josh dearly. She always referred to him as her ‘pride and joy’.
“Kelly was such a colourful person. She was beautiful, kind and caring.
“She was big-hearted, always finding the time for others despite struggling with her own mental health issues.
“She had her problems and her addictions and demons, but deep down she was a very loving human.”
For the rest of her life, Lynn Wallings will wonder why Anthony Ayres – a man who, let’s not forget, was described at his first murder trial as “a serious danger to all women” – was freed to kill again.
Jamie Jenkins shuns posh lingerie in the bedroom and instead just wears a pair of sexy stockings.
Jamie, 25, from Cobham, Surrey, loves her 32C norks and reckons her peachy bottom is also a strong point. And she showed both off in this kinky photoshoot. But when she’s getting hot and heavy, she much prefers being naked – except for a pair of stockings.
Jamie said: “I love my breasts, but my legs are just as nice, I reckon. “And my arse isn’t bad either! “I don’t go in for all that posh lingerie in thebedroom. To me, it feels a little bit forced and serious and lacking in spontaniety.
“But I do like wearing thigh-high stockings – and nothing else – when I’m having sex!
“It really accentuates your bum and it means you never end up with carpet burns on your knees!”