Killer grandson tells mother to ‘shut up' during victim statement

Telegraph

17 hours ago

A killer told his mother to 'shut up' as she told a court her family were living in fear.
Jakob Walpole, 33, attacked his 'frail and vulnerable' grandfather John Brown, 81, in his home before glassing a customer and attacking a bar worker at a working men's club.
Warwick Crown Court heard that Mr Brown, a well-known Jaguar restoration expert, died six days after being attacked in his home by Walpole on the night of Nov 23 last year.
Jurors found Walpole, from Bulkington, Warwickshire, guilty of manslaughter, breaching a restraining order and two counts of assault, but cleared him of murder, after a three-week trial.
He was jailed for 15 years on Monday with a further two years on extended licence.
Walpole repeatedly said 'shut up' from the dock while his mother Lynda Brown read a victim impact statement to the court.
Ms Brown said: 'The tears we have shed could fill buckets and I live with the knowledge my son caused the death of my beloved father.
'Even though he's been in prison, we are still in fear. Mum is terrified he will be back knocking at the door or her bedroom window.
'She lives in this fear constantly, and we fear the day he's released again.'
The defendant sat in the dock wearing a grey tracksuit with his head down while Judge Kristina Montgomery KC sentenced him and said: '[Mr Brown] was an exceptionally small man in deteriorating physical health who had been diagnosed with dementia.
'Your visits [to Mr Brown's home] were made to exploit his love... by taking money from both your grandparents to fund your lifestyle. You were an intimidating and persistent nuisance in their lives.'
The court heard that on the night Walpole attacked his grandfather, Mr Brown 'stood up to' the defendant who was asking for money, before the elderly man was struck on the head.
Mr Brown was well known in the local community, having run a successful car panel and body repair business. He was an expert in restoring vintage cars.
Opening the Crown's case last month, Michael Duck KC, prosecuting, said Walpole had been 'drinking throughout the day' and committed two assaults at Bulkington Working Men's Club around an hour after attacking his grandfather.
Walpole bought a small bottle of vodka from a shop in Bulkington at about 9am, before attending a match at Coventry City's home stadium in the afternoon.
After attacking his grandfather, Walpole smashed a pint glass over the back of a club member's head in an incident caught on the 'clearest possible' CCTV footage, before assaulting a bar worker while he was being physically removed from the club.
Mr Brown's daughter installed security cameras at her parents' home in Bulkington, because of Walpole's 'deteriorating' behaviour, and the pensioner was recorded in a 'haunting' video gesturing for help towards the camera before the attack.
The prosecutor said at the beginning of the defendant's trial: 'The reality is that on the Nov 23, in drink, Jakob Walpole descended to a tirade of violence.'