Western Morning News (Saturday)
Carer jailed for 30 years for murder of pensioner
A‘MERCILESS’ killer has been jailed for life for the brutal murder of a disabled pensioner who he was supposed to be caring for.
Michael Robinson has been told he must serve at least 30 years in jail for strangling and kicking 77-year-old Carol Hart to death during an attack in her home in Northam, near Bideford.
He killed her to silence her after she discovered he had stolen half her life savings and reported him to the police and his employers.
He tried to cover his tracks by throwing his bloodstained boots and clothing into a bin lorry shortly afterwards but was caught because one bloodied boot was found at a tip.
Robinson let himself into Mrs Hart’s home in J H Taylor Drive in the early hours of Monday January 11 this year to try to get her to withdraw a criminal complaint that he had used her bank card to take £5,650 from cashpoints.
Her bank confirmed the money was missing on Friday, January 8 and she called the police and the owner of the care agency, who suspended Robinson immediately.
Mrs Hart was said to be feisty and he attacked her when she refused to withdraw the complaint, strangling her in her bed before punching her savagely in the face and dragging her to the floor. He ended the attack by repeatedly kicking her in the face with steel toe capped boots, breaking almost every bone.
Mrs Hart’s daughter and half sister wrote moving impact statements which were read to Exeter Crown Court before he was sentenced.
Her daughter Clare Geering said: “My mother and I were estranged from each other but I always hoped we would be reconciled. He stole that chance. I was in court and listened carefully to the description of how he assaulted my disabled, elderly mother. I will never forget that violence that he used on her.
“She will never get to meet her four grandchildren or great grandchildren. They will never know her, and all because of a man whose job it was to care for her. He took her money and her life. I am so angry at what happened.”
Her half-sister Sheila Crighton said: “Carol always said she’d live to be 90 and she was such a feisty character I could well believe she would have done so if Robinson had not taken her life. To think she was killed by someone who was meant to care for her and keep her safe has really affected me. The violence of what he did made me feel frightened.
Robinson, aged 35, of Seaview Road, Northam, denied murder and theft but was found guilty by a jury at Exeter Crown Court. His sentence means he will not become eligible for parole until 2051.
Judge Mr Justice Garnham told him: “It was a murder intended to obstruct or interfere with the course of justice. The reason you killed her was to obstruct the investigation of your theft from her. There was an abuse of trust and the use of a weapon in the form of a foot shod with steel toed boots. It took place in her own home where she was entitled to feel safe.”