A former boxer slit an elderly widow’s throat and stabbed her several times before setting her alight to destroy evidence, a court heard today.
David Newton, 70, is said to have left 86-year-old Una Crown sprawled face down in a pool of her own blood in the hallway of her modest bungalow.
The grisly scene was discovered the following morning by her nephew, who had driven over to pick her up for their regular Sunday lunch together.
A post-mortem examination showed the retired postmistress’s injuries from the brutal attack included a stab wound from a ‘long-bladed’ instrument that entered the left of her chest and ‘passed through both lungs and the heart and exited on the right’.
Opening the case, prosecutor John Price KC revealed that, due to a ‘grave error of judgement by police’, the matter was not treated as suspicious for two days and the body was removed, while family members were allowed to enter the house.
But he added the case against Newton would include male DNA that matches the defendant’s and which was ‘on the fingers and thumb of the unburnt right hand of Una Crown’ in 2013 but was only found by scientists in 2023.
Diminutive Mrs Crown, who was just 4ft 10in tall and used a walking stick, was last seen by her niece, Judy Payne, and her husband John on January 12, 2013, when they took her to a local supermarket.
Mr Payne drove to her home in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, the following morning to collect her for their lunch but she wasn’t waiting at the bedroom window as usual and she failed to appear despite knocks at the door and shouts outside, the court heard.
Una Crown was discovered the following morning by her nephew, who had driven over to pick her up for their regular Sunday lunch together
David Newton, 70, pictured, is said to have left the 86-year-old sprawled face down in a pool of her own blood in the hallway of her modest bungalow
Mrs Crown’s body was found at her modest bungalow Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, pictured
Mr Payne then collected a spare key from an elderly next-door neighbour who was being visited by a care worker, Julie Buckle, at the time.
Ms Buckle, who accompanied him as he ‘seemed shaken and panicky’ later told police: ‘Una was lying face down into the carpet, her arms by her side, her legs straight out behind her. I could see either blood or body fluids around her and assumed she wasn’t alive. I said “We need the police and ambulance”.’
While calling 999 she noticed there was ‘burnt debris’ by a kitchen tea towel rail and in the hallway outside the bedroom.
Mr Price told the court: ‘Parts of her (Mrs Crown’s) clothing and parts of the body had been damaged by fire but they were far from destroyed.
‘There were two other separate seats of fire in the house… a tea towel on the rail in the kitchen had been ignited, leaving its charred remains on the kitchen floor.
‘The burnt remains of a newspaper lay on the kitchen carpeted hall floor just outside the bathroom door.
‘If the purpose of the arsonist in setting fire to the body of Una Crown had been to try and destroy the evidence of what he had done to her, then it was to prove ineffective.’
Mrs Crown, who had no children, had lived alone in the bungalow since the death of her husband Jack in 2009 after 60 years of marriage.
Mrs Crown, who had no children, had lived alone in the bungalow since the death of her husband Jack, pictured, in 2009 after 60 years of marriage
Police officers at the scene after Una Crown was found murdered in her home in January 2013
The defendant was arrested on suspicion of murder a fortnight after the death but was told in July 2013 that he wouldn’t be charged on the evidence available
Mr Price said the defendant, who lived with his now late wife Janet in an adjoining road, had been out with his dog in Mrs Crown’s street on the night of her death but denied entering the property – although he admitted going inside on one occasion the previous year.
Newton was described as a regular Saturday night snooker player at the local Ex-Servicemen’s club but told a detective on his doorstep a week after the death that he had not gone on the night of Mrs Crown’s death as he ‘did not have enough money, so he stayed at home and watched ‘the usual Saturday night rubbish’ on television.
But Mr Price told the jury what Newton said about his movements over that weekend would be shown to be ‘totally incorrect’.
The defendant was arrested on suspicion of murder a fortnight after the death but was told in July 2013 that he wouldn’t be charged on the evidence available.
He agreed to provide a new DNA sample in 2023 and was arrested and charged with murder in April last year.
Neighbours paid tribute to Mrs Crown after her death, describing her as the ‘perfect neighbour’ who had ‘a heart of gold’
Mr Justice Garnham explained to jurors that the defendant, who denies murder, was ‘in his 70s and has some medical issues’. Picture: Police gathering evidence after Mrs Crown was founded dead
Mr Price said: ‘As to why he went to her house that night and as to why he then did to her what he did, these are not matters which the prosecution need to prove…
‘One thing, however, would seem to be clear – that there came a time… that the killer of Una Crown decided, for some reason, that she could not be allowed to survive his visit.’
Neighbours paid tribute to Mrs Crown after her death, describing her as the ‘perfect neighbour’ who had ‘a heart of gold’.
Father-of-three Newton, who wore a jumper and jeans in court and had thick-rimmed glasses, listened to the evidence with the assistance of a court-appointed intermediary.
Mr Justice Garnham explained to jurors that the defendant, who denies murder, was ‘in his 70s and has some medical issues’.
The trial continues.
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