Convicted triple-killer to die in prison after murdering third victim while out on licence

Lawrence Bierton will spend the rest of his life in prison after bludgeoning 73-year-old Pauline Quinn to death with her coffee table at her home in Rayton Spur, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, on November 9 2021.

Bierton, 63, had been given accommodation in Rayton Spur while on licence from a life sentence for murdering two elderly sisters in 1995, a decision that was described by a Probation Service representative as “incorrect” in court and labelled a “significant mistake” by the judge, Mr Justice Pepperall.

The defendant was found guilty of Ms Quinn’s murder after a two-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court, with the judge describing his third killing as “senseless as it was brutal”.

Handing Bierton a whole-life order the first to be issued at the court since 2005, Mr Justice Pepperall said: “You have been found guilty of the senseless and brutal murder of three elderly and disabled women in their own homes.

“You showed each of the victims no mercy. [These were] sustained attacks in which you used extraordinary levels of violence. I am left in no doubt whatsoever that you must never again be given the opportunity to walk the streets. The only just sentence in this case is that you should remain in prison for the rest of your life.”

Bierton murdered Ms Quinn around 18 months after being released from his first life sentence for a second time, in May 2020.

He was jailed in 1996 for murdering Aileen Dudill, 79, and Elsie Gregory, 73, after a trial at Sheffield Crown Court, which heard that he and a co-defendant, Michael Pluck, had broken into the sisters' home having previously carried out gardening jobs for them.

After entering the property in Rotherham on June 25 1995, the pair murdered their victims as they prepared cups of tea. Ms Gregory suffered several cuts to her head and fractures to her skull, neck, and ribs consistent with someone stamping on or kicking her. Ms Dudhill had also suffered a cut to her head, fractured skull and bruises to her face and thigh.

It was believed a bloodstained cushion found at the scene was used to suffocate one or both of the sisters. Bierton and Pluck then stacked furniture on top of the sisters' bodies and set the pile on fire.

Prosecutors in this year's trial said that Bierton's previous murders were "strikingly similar" to Ms Quinn's death.

John Cammegh KC told the jury in November this year that Bierton attacked his "defenceless" neighbour after she refused to give him money for alcohol, after he had drunk rum and vodka and taken crack cocaine and Subutex, an opioid, on the day of the murder.

Ms Quinn, who lived alone, had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and walked with a stick. She was able to pull a red emergency cord in her home, which recorded audio of Bierton repeatedly striking her with the coffee table.

Audio of the attack on Ms Quinn was played several times to jurors, with Mr Cammegh saying she was murdered "in the most egregious way".

After the killing, Bierton was seen taking his victim's car and visiting a relative before returning to the scene and removing the remnants of the coffee table from Ms Quinn's house in a plastic bag.

He was found guilty of murder in under an hour of jury deliberations, following a two-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court.

He had already accepted being responsible for the killing but had denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility, owing to his alcohol dependency. His barristers claimed this constituted a "mental abnormality" which would have caused alcohol withdrawal symptoms and thus have prevented him from thinking rationally.

Bierton was remanded into custody following the jury verdict, having already admitted a charge of theft.