Ex-care worker jailed for murder

Edward Ross had previous convictions of assault

A former care worker who beat an 83-year-old woman to death in 1994 has been jailed for life at the Old Bailey.

Edward Ross, of West India Dock, Poplar, east London, was convicted of murder after his palm print matched bloody prints left above Helen Mercer's bed.

Miss Mercer suffered "horrendous" head injuries in the attack at her home in Leyton, east London, in June 1994.

The case was unsolved until Ross's palm print was taken when he was arrested for breaking a window at a restaurant.

Ordering him to serve a minimum term of 15 years Judge Gerald Gordon said: "Miss Mercer was clearly very vulnerable.

"This was, to all normal people, a repulsive attack, and it took place in her own home."

Miss Mercer's cheekbones and jaw were broken and she suffered two black eyes and bruising and swelling of the neck in the attack. She died a week later in hospital.

The court heard police found three palm prints above the pensioner's bed which could have come from someone whose hand was wet with the victim's blood "crouching or kneeling" on to the wall.

'Overwhelming evidence'

Two "cold case" reviews over the past 14 years drew a blank until Ross's palm prints were collected in April following an incident at a restaurant in which he broke a window.

Ross, 39, who said he had worked as a carer for elderly people, denied the murder.

Calling Ross's denial "ludicrous" the judge said there was "absolutely overwhelming evidence that they were your palm prints, much remains unexplained, in particular, why you were there at all."

The jury heard he probably broke into Miss Mercer's house, where she had lived for 40 years, to steal something but the motive "remains unexplained".

The court heard a neighbour entered the victim's house when he heard someone moaning and found her "covered from top to bottom in blood" and pleading for help.

The victim told ambulance staff: "He tried to murder me".

Ross, a drug addict, was in psychiatric care several times between 1995 and 2007 and had previous convictions for assault.