Two violent brothers who beat a convicted paedophile to death face mandatory life sentences for his murder. Matthew Roe, 25, of Franklin Road, Jacksdale, and Luke Roe, 34, of Potter Street, Worksop, were found guilty of the killing of 85-year-old Henry Thwaites by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday (May 26).
The task for the judge at sentencing, on June 5, will be to decide the minimum term the pair will serve before they are eligible for parole. Mr Thwaites died at around 10.30pm on July 23, 2022, the court heard.
The pensioner, a longstanding friend of their mother, Catherine Roe, had lived in a communal block of flats in Ramsgate, Kent. After he came into a substantial sum of money, he offered to buy her a car.
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She invited Mr Thwaites to stay and he drove down in his Fiat Punto to the family home in Potter Street, Worksop, where the brothers were staying at the time.
Mr Thwaites fulfilled his promise to buy her a car. But he told her that "the boys" had asked him if he would buy them a car too, the jury heard. Either Luke Roe, who was clearly drunk, or Matthew had asked Mr Thwaites to, "let's go see about this car then".
The two brothers left with Mr Thwaites at about 10.25pm, minutes before he died. They were seen on CCTV getting into the pensioner's grey Fiat Punto, which was tracked by ANPR cameras and other CCTV cameras, going south out of Worksop and turning into the quiet rural road of Limetree Avenue.
The CCTV captured the Fiat turning west into Limetree Avenue at 10.37pm. The next sighting was at 10.57pm, a mile or two further west, and now on the return journey back to Worksop.
Mr Thwaites had been taken out of his car and beaten to death. It would appear some of that beating took place inside the vehicle, the jury had heard.
Mr Thwaites' skull was badly damaged in the attack. He was left under a metal fence by the Welbeck Estate and was found by a passerby. A fragment of a Fiat motif sticker was near his body.
The Fiat was driven to defendant Abby Dixon's address, arriving at about 11pm. Dixon, 27, of Watson Road, Worksop, was found guilty of two charges of assisting an offender by the jury today.
The court heard the Fiat had traveled back to the place where Mr Thwaites' body was dumped after 11pm.
As well as the murder conviction, Matthew Roe will be sentenced on four fraud charges after trying to use the pensioner's bank card after death. Luke Roe was cleared by the jury on three fraud charges, but convicted of a fourth, and a charge of damaging property on July 24, 2022, which involved a window belonging to a woman.
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