31 January 2024 , 16:36
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A newly-qualified builder who murdered his client with a hammer in a row over the extension he was building at her home has been jailed for life.
Grandmother Sharon Gordon was found dead with eight blows to the head, at her home in Dudley, West Midlands. Concerned friends went to find her after she failed to turn up to work in July, last year and found the 58-year-old slumped at the bottom of the stairs with severe head injuries. Police later found blood-stained items in a wheelie bin at the house.
Bricklayer Peter Norgrove, from Sedgley, pleaded guilty to her murder back in December and today (Wednesday Jan 31) was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years and 177 days behind bars. The 43-year-old builder met Mrs Gordon through mutual friends at the church they both attended, West Midlands Police said.
Sharon Gordon was hit over the head with a hammer (WMP)Judge Michael Chambers KC described the murder as “brutal and savage”. He said: “You were angry because she criticised you for your chronic delays and workmanship completing building work at her home. It was a relatively small extension which should have been completed many months previously.
“You may regret what you did now, but I’m not satisfied you are truly remorseful for what happened.”
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Norgrove was building an extension at Ms Gordon's home which had taken several months and thrown up numerous problems. After she did not arrive at work on July 21, 2023, her friends went to her house and found her body. She had died the previous day, the force said. Video footage from outside Mrs Gordon's home taken after she died shows the side extension on the right of the property and rubble appears to be piled up in the front garden.
Murderer Peter Norgrove (WMP)Despite Norgrove telling police he had left the property the day before, blood-stained items were found in a wheelie bin which related to him, and further searches revealed a hammer hidden in a shed.
Mrs Gordon leaves behind an adult daughter and a four-year-old grandson.
Det Insp Damian Forrest, who led the investigation, said: "This appears to have been a disagreement over work carried out at the victim's property which has escalated into violence. I am pleased the defendant has pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and spared Mrs Gordon's family the ordeal of a trial."