A North Yorkshire man who smothered a “vulnerable” grandmother to death following an argument had a history of domestic violence and had killed a previous girlfriend, it has been revealed.
Paul Plunkett, 62, was given a life sentence of no less than 23 years at Teesside Crown Court yesterday for the murder of his partner, Barbara Davison, in August last year.
Davison, who was 4ft 11in tall and weighed less than seven stone, had struggled with alcohol abuse and was described as “vulnerable”, the Northern Echo reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The 66-year-old was found dead at her home in Redcar on 15 August. She had been smothered to death and also exhibited signs of trauma, including three missing teeth.
Plunkett was arrested on suspicion of murder two days later.
Davison’s family have described Plunkett as a “controlling” partner who isolated their mother from friends and family, and exacerbated her problem drinking. He is “a lying, manipulative, evil coward who will never face up to what he has done and the lives he has ruined”, the family said in a statement after he was sentenced.
Plunkett had initially claimed that he killed Davison accidentally, by covering her mouth during a row. He denied murder at a hearing last October, “but changed his plea to guilty shortly before his trial was due to start at Teesside Crown Court this week”, reports Teesside Live.
Contempt of court laws meant that Plunkett’s past convictions could not previously be reported, to avoid the risk of prejudice in the event of a jury trial.
However, it has now been revealed that he had a history of domestic violence and served three years in prison for the 1995 manslaughter of then-girlfriend Jacqueline Aspery.
“In that case, he applied so much pressure to Aspery’s throat that he fractured the cartilage around her larynx,” says The Guardian.
Emma Dowling from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Given the similarities between the death of Barbara Davison and the manslaughter of Jacqueline Aspery, the CPS made an application for his previous convictions to be revealed to the jury.
“Given the strength of the case against him, it is unsurprising that Plunkett has pleaded guilty to murder on the first day of this trial.”
The revelations are likely to bring renewed attention to an initiative launched by victims’ rights groups last year to change the law to allow police “proactive measures” to notify new partners of serious offenders about their previous convictions.
Current legislation “allows people to find out if their partner has a history of abuse”, but the information “is only disclosed upon request”, says The Guardian.
Speaking outside the Teesside court on Thursday, Detective Inspector Darren Birkett described Plunkett as a “danger to women”.
“We hope that Barbara’s family can take some comfort from the knowledge that he will never be able to hurt another family again,” Birkett said.
-
Music reviews: Chance the Rapper, Cass McCombs, and Molly TuttleFeature "Star Line," "Interior Live Oak," and "So Long Little Miss Sunshine"
-
Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!Feature Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town
-
Critics' choice: Three chefs fulfilling their ambitionsFeature Kwame Onwuachi's grand second act, Travis Lett makes a comeback, and Jeff Watson's new Korean restaurant
-
What we know about the Copenhagen mall shootingSpeed Read Lone gunman had mental health issues and not thought to have terror motive, police say
-
Texas school shooting: parents turn anger on policeSpeed Read Officers had to be urged to enter building where gunman killed 21 people
-
DJ Tim Westwood denies multiple sexual misconduct allegationsSpeed Read At least seven women accuse the radio and TV presenter of predatory behaviour dating back three decades
-
What happened to Katie Kenyon?Speed Read Man charged as police search for missing 33-year-old last seen getting into van
-
Brooklyn subway shooting: exploring New York’s ‘steep decline in law and order’Speed Read Last week, a gunman set off smoke bombs and opened fire on a rush-hour train in the city
-
How the Capitol attack investigation is splitting the RepublicansSpeed Read Vote to censure two Republican representatives has revealed deep divisions within party
-
Is sentencing a Nazi sympathiser to read Shakespeare an appropriate punishment?Speed Read Judge seemed to think introducing student ‘to high culture’ would ‘magically make him a better person’ said The Daily Telegraph
-
Sarah Everard’s murder: a national reckoning?Speed Read Wayne Couzen’s guilty plea doesn’t ‘tidy away the reality of sexual violence’
