OAP’S family pay tribute caring man’, as killer is
A Swansea pensioner’s brutal killer has been jailed for 31 years after being convicted following a trial. JASON EVANS reports on the aftermath of a harrowing case
Hopes of closure for pensioner’s relatives and friends as
AMAN who tied up and beat a pensioner to death in his own home will spend at least 31 years in jail. A judge sentenced Jonathan Donne to life in prison yesterday, with a minimum of 31 years.
On the night of March 29 this year Donne went to John Williams’s house in Pentrechwyth, Swansea, to steal the 67-yearold’s cannabis crop.
During the robbery he tied the pensioner’s hands behind his back, and brutally kicked and punched him as he lay helpless on the floor.
The 42-year-old then filled a bag with cannabis and fled the house - leaving Mr Williams, who was known as Jack, bound, bleeding and dying in the livingroom.
Donne denied robbery and murder, but was convicted following a trial at Swansea Crown Court.
It wasn’t the first time Donne has killed - in 2007 he stabbed his girlfriend to death during a row in her flat in Swansea.
After killing her he left the property, showered and changed his clothes, and then tried to pin the blame on somebody else.
He was later convicted of manslaughter.
Sentencing, Judge Mr Justice Lewis said: “This was a brutal and savage attack on an elderly and defenceless man carried out in his own home.
“You showed no concern for Mr Williams then, and having observed you during the trial, and in particular in the dock giving evidence, I am sure you have shown no genuine remorse ever since.
“You did not accept responsibility for killing Mr Williams, and sought to minimise the extent of the blows [with which you attacked him].
“I am sure you deliberately targeted him, and you did so because you had been told Mr Williams did not like banks and kept his money in his house and cultivated cannabis.”
During the murder trial the court heard Donne had spent the night of March 29 being driven around Swansea visiting known drug dealing locations, “calling in” favours from acquaintances, and trying to raise money. He had also been seeking information on anyone who had a crop of cannabis he could steal - it was this which led him to Mr Williams’s front door on Pentrechwyth Road shortly before midnight.
After forcing his way inside the pensioner’s house he tied him up with a length of rope he had taken with him, and subjected him to a brutal and sustained beating.
The day after the murder Donne went shopping for Easter eggs in Tesco in Fforestfach, before driving to Cardiff and spending the night in a club.
Mr Williams’s body was discovered on March 31 by a former partner.
Sentencing, Justice Lewis added: ““The blows that you inflicted caused serious injuries to Mr Williams and led to his death. He did not die immediately, he would have lived for at least half an hour, and possibly up to two hours after the attack.”
Donne was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum of 31 years before he can be con-
This was a brutal and callous attack on a defenceless elderly man in his own home
- Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Inspector Darren George