Robber who fatally kicked and punched pensioner jailed for 23 years

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A robber who fatally kicked, punched and stamped on a vulnerable pensioner before taking off with a box of cornflakes and a cottage pie has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 23 years.

Transcript

00:00After leaving a co-op store in Manor House, 87-year-old John McKay was kicked, punched

00:08and stamped on by unemployed Peter Augustine over a box of cornflakes and a cottage pie.

00:16He died from the ordeal.

00:18Augustine did not attend his sentencing at the Old Bailey on Friday, claiming he had

00:23back pain.

00:24The judge said throughout the trial, the defendant had been disruptive, shouting angrily from

00:32the dock on a regular basis and was insulting, abusive and aggressive when challenged by

00:39the prosecution.

00:40The judge was at one point forced to take the rare step of excluding him from the courtroom

00:47as he gave evidence.

00:49John McKay, originally from County Kilkenny in Ireland, had lived in London for around

00:5570 years.

00:57He was in the early stages of Alzheimer's.

01:00In those circumstances, I take 15 years as the starting point.

01:04However, that is not the end point.

01:07Every case turns on its own facts and detailed consideration of aggravating or mitigating factors

01:12may, in all cases, result in a minimum term of any length, whatever the starting point.

01:20There are very significant aggravating factors present here.

01:24The robbery is an aggravating feature of the murder.

01:29John McKay was particularly and obviously vulnerable because of his age and limited mobility.

01:35He was also in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

01:39I have no doubt that the defendant targeted him specifically because he was frail.

01:45It was a cowardly attack.

01:47The defendant has shown no remorse.

01:52Excessive violence was used against John McKay.

01:55He must have suffered pain and fear during an attack that lasted for several seconds and

02:00which was accompanied by loud shouting on the part of the defendant, such as he displayed

02:04in court in the course of the trial.

02:06His family have told me that John was funny and charming, a lifelong Arsenal fan who was

02:11adored by his family and was loved by his local community.

02:15It is a shameful tragedy that John was killed by Augustine.

02:18For a mere few bits of shopping, he deserved better.

02:23Augustine's sentence today is testament to the officers who worked incredibly hard to build

02:26the evidence against him which proved his part in John's death.

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