Man guilty of wedding ring murder

Nora Glass was murdered for her wedding ring

A thief who murdered an elderly woman for her most precious possession - her wedding ring - has been jailed for life at the Old Bailey.

Daniel Dunsford, of Bethnal Green, east London, pawned the ring for £20 to fund his drinking habit.

Dunsford robbed and strangled Nora Glass, 77, at her home in July 2003.

The 23-year-old, who had denied murder, was jailed on Wednesday with a recommendation that he served a minimum of 16 years.

Richard Horwell, prosecuting, said Mrs Glass's husband, Arthur, had died 20 years earlier.

He had been "the love of her life".

Daniel Dunsford murdered Mrs Glass to fund his drinking habit

Mr Horwell told the court: "She never took off her wedding ring - her most treasured possession. She was murdered because of greed."

Dunsford lived occasionally with an older woman and her children in a block of flats about 100 yards from Mrs Glass.

The prosecution said he had been drunk and in a foul mood on the day of the Cornish-born 77-year-old's death.

He was caught after DNA from the rim of a used blue mug found in Mrs Glass's flat matched his DNA profile.

A post-mortem examination showed the elderly woman died from asphyxiation.