Sickening CCTV footage shows how a depraved murderer and his girlfriend went on a shopping spree with bank cards stolen from a wealthy pensioner that he had tied up and killed in her own home....CONTINUE READING
Xyaire Howard, 23, and his girlfriend Chelsea Grant, 28, had robbed Susan Hawkey, 71, in the street and then continued to prey on her in her own home. Howard bound Mrs Hawkey with tape and his shoelaces and forced her to reveal her PIN number.
Mrs Hawkey was then strangled to death with another shoelace. Howard left the body to rot under a duvet on her living room floor and the couple spent the next three weeks emptying £13,000 from her bank account.
Howard denied but was convicted of murder, while Grant was cleared of the charge by an Old Bailey jury.
Both admitted two counts of fraud. They were also convicted of one count of attempted robbery. They will be sentenced on December 8.
Sickening CCTV footage shows how Xyaire Howard (pictured) and his girlfriend went on a shopping spree with bank cards stolen from a wealthy pensioner that he had tied up and killed in her own home
Howard, 23, and his girlfriend Chelsea Grant, 28, had robbed Susan Hawkey, 71, in the street and then preyed on her in her own home. They are pictured during the shopping spree
In all the couple made 146 different transactions with the stolen bank card. Howard and Grant are pictured on CCTV as they were using the card
CCTV captured the defendants waling to and from Ms Hawkey’s house on September 6 last year. They also burst in again the following morning, jurors heard.
Ms Hawkey lived alone and was often seen shuffling to the shops near her home in Aylesbury Road, Neasden, in her red duffle coat and Ugg boots, often pulling her shopping trolley behind her.
She had very little contact with relatives and few callers to her home but her neighbours thought she was a ‘lovely person.’
Ms Hawkey was a hoarder and her home was choked with rubbish – but she spent hardly anything and her pension and life assurance payments had mounted up until she had £16,000 in her bank account.
Prosecutor Annabel Darlow, KC, said: ‘They would be able to spend their way through the £16,000 they knew to be in her bank account, at their leisure.
‘After the defendants had obtained both her debit card and her PIN, they went on a spending spree, spending thousands of pounds on luxury goods for themselves, including perfume, designer goods, a new television, portable speakers, telephones and accessories, clothing, shoes, sunglasses, watches and handbags.
‘Much of the spending was at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepherds Bush, but they also frequented shops and businesses in Wembley.’
In all the couple made 146 different transactions with the card.
By September 19, Grant had began making Google searches on her phone for ‘decomposition scent’, ‘how long does a dead body smell,’ and ‘How do neighbours smell dead bodies through entire walls from outside and in other houses? and ‘Is a dead body a very strong smell’.
She said some of these searches were made by Howard.
Three days later Howard searched for safety coveralls, Hazmat coveralls and full protective respirator masks’
Ms Hawkey’s body was discovered on September 26 when a concerned neighbour noticed she had not put her bins out.
Police found Ms Hawkey lying on a sofa underneath a duvet. She had been bound, blindfolded with tape and still had a shoelace around her neck.
‘All of her lower clothing, that is her trousers and underwear had been removed- all she was wearing was a top and that top had been cut down the front said Ms Darlow.
‘An item of clothing had been placed over her head and her body was under a duvet that was found over her corpse.
‘A used condom was found which contained Mr Howard’s semen and cellular material from Ms Grant – and that was found in the same room as her body together with an opened condom wrapper which bore Mr Howard’s finger prints.
‘The ligature around Ms Hawkey’s neck had been tightened with sufficient force to break one of the bones in her neck.
‘She was strangled by one of these defendants in an attack motivated purely by greed and self interest.
‘They wanted to stop Ms Hawkey so they could spend her money at will. They wanted to stop Ms Hawkey ringing the police.’
On September 28, police went to a branch of McDonald’s in Wembley, where the card has been repeatedly used.
As they left they were astonished to see both defendants nonchalantly waiting for a bus outside and arrested them both.
When Grant was searched she still had Ms Hawkey’s card and £1,600 of her cash.
At her home they found a lap top computer she had stolen from the care home where she was working.
Howard bound Mrs Hawkey (pictured) with tape and his shoelaces and forced her to reveal her PIN number. Mrs Hawkey was then strangled to death with another shoelace. Howard left the body to rot under a duvet on her living room floor and the couple spent the next three weeks emptying £13,000 from her bank account
The couple had been living in various addresses and were often thrown out for not paying the rent before they moved into a flat at Pit House, in Press Road in Neasden, two minutes away from where Ms Hawkey lived.
After seeing her in the street on her way to they convenience store they realised she would be ‘an ideal victim.’
Grant first mugged her on July 27 last year, wrenching her bag from her shoulder.
A few weeks later on August 22 the couple knocked her to the ground near her home.
On both occasions Ms Hawkey’s bank card was taken and Howard was able find out her balance because after the second mugging he bragged to a contact on Instagram: ‘Yo I copped a card bro. 16k is on this ting.’
Now armed with her house keys the couple decided to rob her again the very next day at Ms Hawkey’s home and pinned her to a chair as they grabbed cash.
Before the card was cancelled again they managed to buy a few items, but only of low value.
The pair decided that once she had replaced that card they would clean out the bank account – but to do that they would have to force the victim to give them the PIN number.
Ms Hawkey’s body was found with her trousers and underwear removed. It was suggested during the trial that cannabis addict Howard (pictured) may have had sex with Ms Hawkey before he strangled her to death
Grant (pictured) claimed she had not been at the home when her boyfriend killed Ms Hawkey and she did not know if she was dead, the court heard
Grant claimed she had not been at the home when her boyfriend killed Ms Hawkey and she did not know if she was dead, the court heard.
She said her boyfriend had later asked her to stand outside the house and ‘sniff’ to see if she could smell a dead body.
A used condom containing traces of Howard’s semen and DNA from both Grant and the victim was found next to the body.
Grant claimed her DNA was on the condom because they had sex regularly and her boyfriend never showered.
Ms Hawkey’s body was found with her trousers and underwear removed. It was suggested during the trial that cannabis addict Howard may have had sex with Ms Hawkey before he strangled her to death.
Howard admitted tying her up with tape but claimed he left her alive and well.
His barrister suggested flies settling on the corpse may have transferred Ms Hawkey’s DNA to the condom.
Grant and Howard, of Press Road, Neasden, denied murder.
Grant denied three counts of robbery while Howard denied two and admitted one. They both admitted two counts of fraud.
Grant became pregnant with Howard’s child during the time they were preying on Mrs Hawkey and they both have a child from previous relationships.
In early hearings the couple had waved at each other over the video link and Howard had asked how Grant’s pregnancy was going but they blamed each other for the murder at trial.
She gave birth to a baby boy while in custody in May.
Grant denied but was convicted of three counts of robbery while Howard denied and was convicted of one charge of robbery. He admitted a second count of robbery and was cleared of a third.
The couple did not look at each other as the verdicts were delivered.
Howard (pictured) admitted tying Mrs Hawkey up with tape, but claimed he left her alive
Jurors heard Ms Hawkey (pictured) was a retired bank worker who was just 5ft 1½ inches tall and of very slight build. She did not have children and she struggled to cope after the loss of both of her parents and a partner
Jurors heard Ms Hawkey was a retired bank worker who was just 5ft 1½ inches tall and of very slight build. She did not have children and she struggled to cope after the loss of both of her parents and a partner.
Howard and Grant were both from St Vincent in the Caribbean and had sex on the first night they met in the UK.
Their relationship was a tempestuous one – they argued frequently but Grant said Howard wanted sex at least twice a day.
Grant had wanted to join the Royal Navy but was too overweight and unfit.
She also had a previous conviction in the Caribbean when she was wrongly sent a package and beat up the rightful owner when she came to collect it.
A magistrate then told her: ‘Take my advice, I am older than you. Look at your attitude.’
She also has previous convictions for fraud after taking photographs of bank cards in bars.
