Carer murdered woman, 90, after stealing from her
· BBC NewsAndy Gill
BBC News
Reporting from
Liverpool Crown Court
Sarah Spina-Matthews
BBC News
A carer who hit a "defenceless and vulnerable" 90-year-old woman in her own home with a metal flask before smothering her with a pillow has been jailed for murder.
Jayne Hill admitted attacking Myra Thompson in Wirral, Merseyside, in April.
The 52-year-old also admitted stealing £60 from Mrs Thompson as well as taking jewellery from other clients.
At Liverpool Crown Court, Hill was sentenced to a minimum prison term of 22-and-a-half years.
The court heard Hill had been sacked by her care agency after she was filmed on a covert camera stealing money from Mrs Thompson.
Hill, who has two daughters and four granddaughters, did not tell her partner about losing her job and pretended to still go to work.
When questioned by detectives following Mrs Thompson's death, Hill initially denied any involvement.
But in a third police interview, she said she had gone to Mrs Thompson's home in Bolde Way, Spital, late one night to apologise and return the money.
Hill, who claimed this was all part of an attempt to save her job, said she chose to visit Mrs Thompson late at night so as to avoid being seen by neighbours.
She told police that Mrs Thompson had started shouting at her when she let herself in with a key from a keysafe.
This was when Hill said she hit her victim with a flask and then, when the 90-year-old continued to shout, smothered her.
'Defenceless attack'
Mrs Thompson was only 5ft 3in (160cm) tall and weighed less than 7st (45kg).
The court also heard she had Parkinson’s disease and leg ulcers, and used a Zimmer frame.
Other carers found her to be "very independent" and "very alert".
Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said: "This was a planned attack on a defenceless vulnerable woman in her own home which was motivated by either money, revenge or a desire to remove the witness to Jayne Hill’s dishonesty - or a mixture of all three."
He said Mrs Thompson's body was found at her house by another carer.
The court heard that phone data proved Hill, from Wirral, had also gone to her victim's house three days before the murder.
Hill's lawyer David Polglase said his client could not properly explain her reaction to being caught stealing.
"She has expressed sorrow and remorse for what she’s done," said Mr Polglase.
He said Hill, of Norwich Drive in Upton, had no previous convictions but "fell to temptation" after financial pressures at home.
She was given 20 months for theft and for stealing jewellery from other clients. These sentences will run concurrently with her murder sentence.
Judge Andrew Menary KC said: "The suddenness, ferocity and persistence of the violence you used demonstrates, I am sure, that you went there that night intending to kill your victim.
"You wanted to try to conceal the fact that a crime had been committed by removing the person who you believed was the only possible witness."
Ann Jarvis said her friend and neighbour Mrs Thompson had worked in a caring role all her life at Clatterbridge cancer unit, as well as looking after her disabled husband for 50 years.
"All Myra wanted and deserved was to spend the rest of her days in the comfort of her own home and be treated with the respect and dignity she has shown to others," said Mrs Jarvis.
The victim's niece, Anne Charters, said: "We can only imagine the terror she experienced during her final moments on the evening of 23 April in her own home, a place where she was supposed to be safe."
Det Insp Dave Jones of Merseyside Police described Hill's attack as "the ultimate breach of trust".
“Hill admitted being responsible for Myra’s death and has rightly been sentenced for her monstrous actions," he said.
Additional reporting by PA Media