24 October 2023 , 19:19
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A ruthless murderer strangled a pensioner before he and his girlfriend looted £13,000 from her bank account and went on a "massive spending spree".
Xyaire Howard, 23, bound Susan Hawkey, 71, to extract her bank card PIN and knotted a ligature around her neck. Her body was discovered decomposing 20 days later under a duvet in the living room of her home in Neasden, northwest London.
By which time, Howard and his girlfriend Chelsea Grant, 28, "burned their way through almost £13,000" of their victim's money in 146 transactions. Some money was sent to St Vincent and the Grenadines using money transfer services, a jury heard.
Ms Hawkey, 71, was found dead 20 days after the strangulation (Metropolitan Police / SWNS)
Concerns were raised about the welfare of Ms Hawkey in September last year (Metropolitan Police / SWNS)Jurors found Howard guilty of murder while Grant was cleared of the same charge. Howard was also convicted by the jury of one charge of robbery and attempted robbery after the jury deliberated for 13-and-a-half hours. Jurors also found Grant guilty of three counts of robbery and one of attempted robbery of the victim.
The pair had admitted fraud by false representation in relation to their misuse of Ms Hawkey's bank card and Howard had pleaded guilty to one of the robberies. Sitting at the Old Bailey in central London, Judge Judy Khan KC remanded both defendants into custody to be sentenced on December 8.
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Ms Hawkey had been tied up, with her hands taped and tied behind her back, her eyes had been taped shut in the deplorable attack last September, during which she was repeatedly robbed.
Previously, prosecutor Annabel Darlow KC had told jurors that the defendants had identified Ms Hawkey as an "ideal victim" and "easy pickings" last summer. Ms Hawkey was said to be a "highly vulnerable" elderly woman who lived an isolated life with little contact with friends and family.
She was also a "creature of habit" and would take the same route with her bank card to the shops and Post Office to withdraw cash. After she was robbed, Ms Hawkey cancelled her card but not before the defendants had used it for a few small transactions, the court was told.
She was last seen alive on September 6, the same day the defendants were seen walking to and from her home, jurors were told. Ms Darlow said that up until that point, Ms Hawkey had shown herself to be "feisty, brave and ready to stand up for herself" against the two people preying on her. The next day, Howard used her new bank card to withdraw £250 at a cash machine.
Ms Darlow said Ms Hawkey had memorised her PIN number and would not have willingly parted with it unless subjected to violence. She said: "When Susan Hawkey's decomposing corpse was found by the authorities, she was bound and blindfolded, and a ligature was around her neck.
"For some reason, all of her lower clothing, including underwear, had been removed and her upper clothing had been cut down the front. An item of clothing had been placed over her head and her body concealed under a duvet."
Ms Darlow added that a ligature around Ms Hawkey's neck had been tightened with sufficient force to break one of the bones in her neck. The defendants went on a "massive spending spree" over the next three weeks and "burned their way through almost £13,000" of her money in 146 transactions, the prosecutor said.
The couple bought luxury designer goods - including perfume, a new television, portable speakers, telephones, clothes, shoes, sunglasses, watches and handbags - during trips to Westfield shopping centre in the Shepherd's Bush and Wembley areas of London.
Some of the money was withdrawn in cash and both defendants sent money to St Vincent and the Grenadines using money transfer services. The victim's bank account went from a balance of more than £16,000 to just £3,434.03, jurors heard. Ms Hawkey's bank card was finally stopped last September 28 at the request of police and the defendants were arrested at a bus stop.
Jurors heard Howard had searched Google for "Barclays transaction limit" and Grant typed in the search phrases "can you smell a dead body from outside the house" and "is a dead body a very strong smell", it was claimed.
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Giving evidence, Grant denied going into Ms Hawkey's flat but admitted standing outside to see if there was a smell. She said Howard, from Neasden, told her he had tied up Ms Hawkey but left her alive.
It was suggested Howard had used his own shoelaces to bind Ms Hawkey's hands and did not have them on when he went to an ATM. Grant also said he had returned from the flat without his shoelaces and had showered and changed his clothes. In his evidence, Howard admitted that he tied Ms Hawkey's hands to extract her PIN, but maintained she was alive when he left.