OAP who was so terrified of burglars he slept in an armchair instead of his bed is murdered... by a burglar
A GRANDFATHER who was so scared of being burgled that he slept downstairs in his armchair was throttled to death by a serial thief who had been released early. Paul Cox had taken to spending nights in his living room two years earlier after becoming the victim of burglaries only months apart.
But his fear of being targeted again became a reality when he was killed by drunken intruder Cory Youlden, who escaped with a bag of coins and Mr Cox’s car.
The disabled grandfather’s body was found hours later, slumped at the foot of his chair in the home he had lived in for 55 years. Mr Cox died just four days before his 84th birthday.
Yesterday, Youlden, who had 24 other convictions, was jailed for life with a minimum tariff of 22 years for the savage crime.
He carried out the attack t hree months after being released on licence, half-way through a 42-month sentence for three street robberies.
After strangling Mr Cox in a headlock, he tried to erase forensic evidence by cleaning up with bleach, the court heard.
He then left the house at Rednal, Worcestershire, in his victim’s Ford Focus, having taken the keys along with the cash from Mr Cox’s pocket.
Prosecutor Alex Warren said Youlden, 23, smashed a bay window to break in to the semidetached home in the early hours, after storming out of his girlfriend’s home during a row. The barrister added: ‘Mr Cox had been burgled on two previous occasions in 2009.
‘ He had started sleeping downstairs in a chair with a hammer because he was afraid of further burglaries.’
Mr Warren said that after a confrontation in the rear sitting room – where Mr Cox was sleeping with an electric fire on for warmth – Youlden left his victim ‘dead or dying’.
He said footprints matching Youlden’s shoes were discovered upstairs while the defendant’s fingerprints were found on the smashed window pane.
Police were called after a neighbour noticed Mr Cox’s car was missing.
Mr Cox, who had separated from his wife 40 years ago, suffered from coronary heart disease, was blind in one eye and partially deaf, the court heard.
He had carried out his national service in the Royal Engineers, stationed i n Palestine and Egypt, and spent much of his working life as an engineer and toolmaker for Cadbury’s.
A post-mortem examination found the pensioner died of pressure to the neck.
Youlden was arrested two days after the killing in June. By then he had sold Mr Cox’s car for £400. It was found burned out.
Stephen Lineham QC, defending, told Worcester Crown Court Youlden had had a ‘wretched
‘Deceitful, callous, calculated’
life’, having been fostered at 11 months and later adopted.
Youlden, whose address was given as a hostel in Birmingham, admitted murder, theft and burglary earlier this month.
The court heard the father of one, who was first convicted at 14, had a string of burglaries and robberies to his name. Judge Robert Juckes QC said Mr Cox had offered Youlden ‘little by way of resistance’ but was nevertheless held in a headlock for between 15 and 20 seconds.
He told the defendant: ‘You not only killed him but you left him on the ground after taking from him money and keys.
‘You are a young man with an appalling record of burglary.’
Mr Cox is survived by his son Greg, 58, daughter Jane, 54, a brother and two grandchildren.
In a statement, the family said it is they ‘who feel they have the life sentence’, adding Mr Cox had been living independently, ‘still able to enjoy life, have a pint, watch sport and spend time with his family’.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Williamson, of West Mercia Police, said Youlden was ‘deceitful, callous and calculated’.
The ‘tragic and brutal killing of a vulnerable man’ was ‘all the more senseless because Youlden gained very little, he added.