A money-hungry window cleaner who repeatedly stabbed an 88 year-old regular customer to death – ripping the rings from her fingers – has been caged for life.
Daniel Franklin, 34, (pic.bottom) of Felixstowe Road, Abbeywood, South-East London must serve a minimum of 32 years for murdering pensioner Irene Barrett (pic.top) at her flat in nearby Valient House, Sam Bartram Close, Charlton.
Franklin was allowed in at 7:00am on May 15, last year and when Irene either refused to give him cash or caught him stealing he launched a vicious knife attack.
She died of multiple stab wounds, receiving injuries to her chest, neck and groin area and was struck so hard to the mouth by Franklin her dentures were dislodged and fractured.
He ransacked her flat, also taking a packet of Mirtazapine tablets and other items, before hiding Irene’s body under bedclothes, where neighbours and carers found her a few hours later.
Two days later police arrested Franklin and he concocted an alibi with his girlfriend, 31 year-old Victoria Cordice of Littleheath, Charlton, that the couple were sleeping at the time of the murder.
She was sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice and assisting an offender.
After the Old Bailey verdict Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons said: “This was a horrific crime that saw the death of an elderly woman in her own home.
“Irene's family has been left absolutely devastated and I only hope that seeing Daniel Franklin brought to justice will provide some sense of relief.”
Irene's son said: “My mother had lived a good life and she deserved a better ending than the one which Daniel Franklin decided to inflict upon her.
“What he did was cowardly and cruel.”
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