A burglar who brutally murdered a grandmother in her own home has been jailed for life after the woman’s horrified daughter watched the break-in on a doorbell camera.
Dean Mears, 34, was seen on camera by the daughter of grandmum Catherine ‘Queenie’ Flynn, 69, showing him ringing the bell late at night.
Daughter Natasha Flynn-Farrell then heard glass smashing as Mears broke into the home through a downstairs window to burgle the house.
Pensioner Catherine, just 4ft 10in, was dragged by the 6ft burglar from her bed and suffered ‘severe’ injuries to her face and brain as he stamped on her head at least 15 times.
Natasha was helpless as her mother pleaded, ‘Please don’t,’ begging not to be hurt before she heard the thuds of him stamping on her head.
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Natasha remembered the Ring doorbell app had to stay open for the footage to be recorded, so she watched it ‘play out’ for the evidence to be recorded.
Natasha said: ‘It was horrendous, it was sickening.’
Frail Catherine, who used a Zimmer frame, suffered massive injuries before dying the next day in hospital.
Scaffolder Mears spent just two minutes inside her home in the seaside town of Rhyl, North Wales, after mistakenly believing it was empty – and was probably targeting a neighbouring house instead.
Convicted drug dealer Mears broke every bone in her face as he stamped and beat her.
He admitted manslaughter but denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility, saying he couldn’t remember.
He was found guilty at Caernarfon Crown Court after the jury saw it was captured on the house’s Ring doorbell.
Natasha received an electronic notification from the house’s Ring doorbell camera at 22:27 on October 24 last year, with footage showing Mears inside the house for under two minutes before jumping out of the window.
The prosecutor said she suffered ‘severe injuries’ to her face and brain that left her with no chance of survival.
Mears returned to his friend’s home and stripped off his trousers and underwear, before being seen on CCTV walking semi-naked in the town.
Pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers told the jury Mrs Flynn died from catastrophic facial injuries: ‘These are the types of injuries you see in high-speed road traffic collisions. There can really be only one explanation, and that is multiple stamps.’
Mears admitted he had carried out the attack, but said he had no recollection of what happened.
‘I can’t give any explanation for this terrible thing I have done. I accept I’ve done what I have done, but I had no intention to hurt anybody,’ he told the jury.
Catherine’s family described her as a wonderful woman who would help anyone if she could. They described her as a “ray of sunshine” known to all as Queenie.
Mears claimed he had no ‘intention to kill or cause any serious bodily injury to her.’
Prosecutor Andrew Jones told how Catherine lived alone, suffering serious health and mobility issues, and used a stairlift and a Zimmer frame inside her house.
The jury was told Mears had taken ketamine, cannabis and cocaine.
Her family said: ‘Catherine was a wonderful mum, nan, great nan, auntie, and sister, and also a second mother to many and a great friend.
‘She loved her family more than anything, she was a fantastic cook and always wanted to feed anyone in her company. Her pride and joy (after her family) was her love for her garden; she would sit for hours just watching the birds and the bees come in and out of her little wonderland, with every flower imaginable. We often wondered how her garden was always so beautiful – now we know, it’s because she was the ray of sunshine.’
Catherine – who was born in Liverpool and known as Queenie – was a ‘rock’ and best friend to her three children.
Natasha Flynn, Cathy’s daughter, told the court: ‘We were not ready to lose one of the most important people in our entire lives. She is gone for ever, and she was not ready either.’
Judge Rhys Rowlands set a minimum sentence of 27 years.
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