The niece of Ken and Freda Walker said Vasile Culea - the man who tied up and brutally assaulted the two pensioners - was 'cruel and had no conscience'. It comes after a jury unanimously convicted Culea of the murder of Freda Walker but they cleared him of the attempted murder of her husband Ken. Both victims were in their 80s.
A two-week trial at Derby Crown Court was told how 34-year-old Culea got into the couple's home in Station Road, Langwith Junction, hid and then violently assaulted the couple, who had been married for more than 60 years. The defendant, of Grove Road, Church Warsop, then tied them up and put a bag over the head of Mrs Walker while he went looking for the £30,000 in cash he had overheard was at the property.
He wanted the money as he had accrued thousands of pounds of gambling debts. Culea told the jury he had not intended to kill 86-year-old Mrs Walker when he inflicted the fatal injuries on her. But the 11 men and one woman convicted him of murder and of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm on Mr Walker, who was 88 and has since died.
