How could the lady walk into his house that cost her life?

[Sunnygirl07]

Hello All,

Such a sad story. I can't understand. Was the house door open and not locked then?

We need to teach our children TO TALK, ASK QUESTIONS and NEVER to attack or fight without any need for it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65046548

He's a horrible person. You find a drunk person in your house but they are nosing you no threat-you'd ask them to leave ( to be fair probably in no uncertain terms I'm sure)or call the police surely? Not beat them up yourself and leave them to die on the street?

He's clearly not the sort of man who would think at all. He became enraged very quickly and just carried on with his appalling attack. No rational, kind person would do that. Surely phoning the police and awaiting their response would not have been beyond a reasonable person? I hope he gets a very long time to think about his actions.

And she wasn't a gentle old lady, she was an alcoholic who arrived on the train and went to the pub, rather than finding her hotel

People are allowed to go to the pub instead of finding their hotel, you know. And being an alcoholic and travelling by train and having the cheek to go to the pub instead of finding her hotel isn't an excuse, valid or otherwise, for someone to murder her.

Totally agree. He didn't need to use any force at all - she was a 71 year old woman!

This was a violent man, doing what violent men do. Utter scum.

I hope you are right.

We don't need men like this walking around our streets.

She wasn’t asleep. She was sat in his bed drinking gin and tonic. He asked her to leave and she became argumentative.

At which point he should have called the police and waited for them. At the very most he should have continued to try to persuade her that she was in the wrong place - not physically manhandle her, beat her, drag her downstairs by her feet, there he in the street and kick and stamp her to death. And then complain that he wouldn't have called an ambulance, he would have dumped her on the beach.

How much more can you get into your eye?

Perhaps they do.

But kicking and stamping on someone so violently that you break their ribs would also be likely to cause severe rupturing of the liver, wouldn't it?

It is the unrestrained and unnecessary violence this brute meted out to this elderly woman which has caused this to be a murder charge rather than manslaughter.

Had he bundled her out o his home into the street and left her and she'd died, that could perhaps have been manslaughter, but he deliberately and viciously repeated kicked and stamped on her. He's a huge man. Can you imagine 20st+ smashing down into your abdomen, ribs, face?

It was unnecessary and cruel. I hope he dies in jail - he should never be free again.

Plus neighbours said he was laughing afterwards.

I think he thought Christmas had come early for him, an intruder that he could ‘legitimately’ beat to death.

His reaction was insane and I believe he is a very dangerous man.

I once woke up and went downstairs to find a strange man fast asleep in just his underpants on my sofa. His clothes and boots were in my garden. I ran upstairs , woke my DH who although shocked and confused by what I had told him, calmly went downstairs , gently woke the man up and politely asked him to leave. Which he did. No drama and when he left I called the police non emergency number just to log it as an incident.

We never know how we will react in these situations and friends of our's were surprised by how calm we were but we'd never ever have reacted with violence.

She wasn’t asleep. She was sat in his bed drinking gin and tonic. He asked her to leave and she became argumentative.

Well, that lets him off the hook, clearly he was completely reasonable to beat her to death. Perfectly normal reaction 🙄

Apparently her neck was also fractured.

@AngelsWithSilverWings yours is the tight approach.

I had booked tickets to the cinema and a man was sleeping in one of our seats. The cinema was pretty full and my teen nieces didn’t want to sit either side of him with me elsewhere, so I asked around if there was a free seat not being held for someone and then woke him up gently and said this seat was booked but he could move to that one. He got up and moved.

I could have called the usher but why not resolve amicably is possible?!

He weighed 21 stone and she was about one third of his size and much older. He is totally at fault here.

I’m obviously not excusing his behaviour, BUT... I expect there is more than meets the eye here.

LIKE what? She did something to make a man of his size so scared that he just HAD to take her by the leg and pull her down the stairs, smashing her skull as she went, then throwing her out the house and stamping on her? Poor man, maybe someone can get his some therapy and a cuddle eh?

What I don't get is didn't HE call the police or was it the fiance? For him to call the Police and knowing they were coming, still to lose control so much as to do this OR to assume he would somehow get away with it, is truly frightening. What did he think would happen when a beaten woman was found dead on his doorstep? How much compliance did his expect from the fiance?

Seriously @EggBlanket , take yourself aside and have a word

@EggBlanket - She wasn’t asleep. She was sat in his bed drinking gin and tonic. He asked her to leave and she became argumentative.
Her behaviour was extremely strange. I expect there is more than meets the eye here.

You are sailing very close to victim blaming.

Yes, she was having a G&T Because she thought she was in her B&B. Did you see the quote from a local in the news article that said it was an easy mistake to make as the houses in the row were all very similar?

She might not have made that mistake if she hasn't been drunk, but then maybe the murderer could have locked his house door, to stop random people and burglars getting in.

And his response was psychopathic.

There is no more to it.

An angry man killed a defenceless woman.

@EggBlanket

Getting drunk - not a crime
Sitting in bed with a G&T - not a crime
Mistakenly entering the wrong building - not a crime
Getting a bit argumentative - not a crime

Dragging an old woman down the stairs and beating her to death - extremely serious crime

Your comment that there's "more than meets the eye here" is disgusting tbh. What 'more' could there possibly be that would justify ir explain the actions of a violent murderer?

So what if she was a heavy drinker, and refused to leave the room because she genuinely thought she was in a pre-booked B&B? There are NO excuses for this man. He murdered her. He must have realised his actions towards her could have killed her, and ultimately did. The fact she wasn't a sweet old duck who'd taken a train to the seaside to paddle in the sea and relive childhood memories, but instead was an elderly alcoholic, doesn't change anything about this scenario.

I sincerely hope the poor woman was too drunk at the time of the attack to feel pain, panic and terror.

The fact she wasn't a sweet old duck who'd taken a train to the seaside to paddle in the sea and relive childhood memories, but instead was an elderly alcoholic

Quite possibly she was both. Alcoholic =/= bad person.

Quite possibly she was both. Alcoholic =/= bad person.

I saw someone comment below one of the news stories that they knew her from their local and that she was a really sweet friendly person.

I can't believe anyone would cast any aspertions on this poor poor woman being violently beaten to death by a vicious thug more than three times her weight. She would probably have got the fright of her life to find him in what she genuinely believed to be her room.
I agree that I hope she'd had enough to drink to slightly anaesthetise her from the events that followed.

I'd get deleted if I said what I would like for him.

FWIW I don't see how insinuating that a person is an alcoholic and implying that they deserved to have a savage beating can be thought acceptable. I have no idea if this lady was an alcoholic or was just merry from having a drink, but she in no way deserved to be dragged downstairs by her feet and suffer injuries on a par with a car crash. If anyone thinks that there is something wrong with you.

I agree.

He has been given a life sentence, and will serve at least 14 years.

The victim impact statements by Mrs Barnes' family are very sad:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65129157

All the posters on here insisting that Mrs Barnes deserved what happened to her because she'd been out drinking need to take a good hard look at themselves.

Is the outrage because she was a woman? In her 70s? Out drinking with her friends?

Check your misogyny.

14 years he got

Given his "anger issues", I can see him kicking off at someone inside, and having to serve more than the 14 year minimum.