Romanian killer jailed for life for murdering ex-mayor's wife, 86

Romanian killer is jailed for life for murdering 86-year-old ex-mayor’s wife who he beat, gagged, tied up and left to die as her husband lay in pool of his own blood after botched burglary

• Vasile Culea convicted for Freda Walker murder at Derby Crown Court this week
• Culea also convicted of wounding with intent her 88-year-old husband Kenneth 
• Romanian national Culea ‘hog-tied’ Mr and Mrs Walker – binding hands and feet 
• Footage shows dramatic moment Culea, 34, is seen fleeing property after crime

A burglar, desperate for cash after racking up £11,000 in gambling debts, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of much-loved pensioner and her former mayor husband during a botched raid on her house.

Romanian Vasile Culea, 34, was ordered to spend at least 34 years behind bars for the murder of Freda Walker and was also sentenced to 14 years for causing grievous bodily harm with intent to husband Kenneth. These will run concurrently.

In sentencing him, the judge, Mr Justice Andrew Henshaw KC, said: ‘At the very least you were callously indifferent to whether Mrs Walker lived or died.

‘You left her face down on the floor tightly tied by the wrists and ankles, virtually unable to move. You placed plastic and fabric wrapping around her mouth and these interfered with her breathing.’

Earlier, the Crown had accepted that this was not a case where a whole life tariff would be appropriate as Culea had not entered their home with the intention of killing and was unarmed.

Culea, who came to Britain in 2015, was convicted of murdering Freda Walker, 86, and causing her husband Kenneth, 88, grievous bodily harm with intent, earlier this week.

Culea, 34,  has been convicted of murdering Freda Walker at Derby Crown Court

The couple, who had lived in the same home for all of their 60 years of marriage, were at the heart of their local community 

Footage of Vasile Culea being arrested after he tied up and brutally assaulted two pensioners in Langwith Junction

Derby Crown Court heard that Culea had spent hours scoping out the elderly couple’s house in Langwith Junction after learning that £30,000 in cash was inside.

That morning, January 14, he had visited four bookmakers in the area, losing a further £250.

Mr Walker had withdrawn the money from the Shirebrook branch of Lloyds Bank to pay for home improvements.

After entering their semi-detached home through the back door in the early evening, he hid in the couple’s utility room before being discovered.

What followed was a frenzied assault on the vulnerable couple which caused the death of Mrs Walker and left Mr Walker in a critical condition.

The court heard he bound the hands and ankles of both the octogenarians before attacking Mrs Walker as he demanded to know where their money was stashed.

Shocking CCTV footage has revealed the moments after a gambling addict burglar snuck into a couple’s house looking for £30,000 in cash and murdered a 86-year-old woman

Culea was arrested at a property in Church Warsop, Nottinghamshire, five days after the incident

Police and forensic officers at the murder scene in Langwith Junction, Derbyshire

She was found to have 25 separate injuries to her body and had died of a brain injury by the time rescuers arrived at her home the following morning.

They discovered an appalling scene with the couple, unable to move, lying in pools of their own blood.

Experts said Mrs Walker, a former seamstress who still involved herself with charity work, would have survived had Culea not obstructed her airways by placing a black bag and a cloth over her head.

But in what was described by prosecutor Michael Auty KC as an attack, ‘devoid of mercy’ Culea left Mrs Walker to her fate when he fled the property, spooked by the sound of a car outside.

He had managed to steal just £300 as Mr Walker was unable to remember where in the house he had put the large sum he had withdrawn.

Culea, a former worker at the Sports Direct plant in Shirebrook, was arrested at his shared home three miles away in Church Warsop six days after the attack.

He had left his baseball cap in the couple’s home and from that the police matched traces of DNA to him.

Crucially, he had a previous conviction for assaulting a former girlfriend in 2017, meaning his DNA was on the police system.

While he admitted the manslaughter of Mrs Walker and grievous bodily harm to her husband, he told the court a string of lies to play down his culpability.

He claimed to have slipped on a spilt drink and accidentally stepped on Mrs Walker’s chest as he tried to stabilise himself.

But jurors took just over two hours to unanimously find him guilty of her murder.

After the verdict, family and friends spoke of their love for the Walker’s who were pillars of the local community and had spent their entire 60 year marriage in the same house.

Their niece Sandra Bunting said: ‘I am numb but glad they have got the right verdict.

‘How anybody could inflict that pain and torture I don’t know. I hope he gets a very long sentence. He was calculating, he was cruel and he had no conscience. All he wanted was money, money they had worked all their lives for.

‘Freda was the most caring person. She loved everybody and had time for everybody. She was a happy person. She is missed by everyone who knew her.’

Mr Walker had worked as an accountant in the mining industry and gone on to represent the Labour Party on Bolsover District Council and on Shirebrook Town Council. He had also served as Alderman.

He had been diagnosed with lung cancer shortly before the attack and died shortly before the trial, having never been able to return to his home.

His life-long friend Brian Murray-Carr ‘I had great respect for Ken both what he did as a councillor on Bolsover district council and as a colleague in the mining industry.’

And he added a significant explanation for how Culea knew about the fact the Walker’s had so much cash in their home.

In court Culea claimed he had overheard a conversation in a Polish or Romanian shop about a ‘wealthy couple’ in Langwith Junction.

But Mr Murray-Carr said: ‘The information relayed to me was that Ken had withdrawn some money from the Lloyds Bank in Shirebrook and this had been witnessed by the man who was in the dock.

‘Later that day Ken went into a betting shop in Shirebrook and there was a confrontation between them where that man demanded money.

‘My suspicion is that he followed Ken home and that is how he knew where he lived.’

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