Siblings of Glynis Bensley condemn 'cowards' who left her to die in street

A 13-year-old boy is currently awaiting sentencing for the crime after becoming one of the youngest to be convicted of murder in the West Midlands.

Miss Bensley was targeted as she walked home from a pub in Smethwick, she was punched in the head and had her face stamped on before being stripped of her money, mobile phone, cigarettes and jewellery.

Speaking for the first time about the attack, brothers John and Kevin and sister Dawn said 47-year-old Glynis was 'in the wrong place at the wrong time'.

They said they believed her killers didn't care about what they had done and were 'only sorry they got caught'.

The 13-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of murder at Wolverhampton Crown Court last month. Co-accused Zoheb Majid, 20, was convicted of manslaughter and robbery. They are due to be sentenced on April 17.

Miss Bensley was making her way home from the Seven Stars pub in Cape Hill, when she was attacked in Cheshire Road and fell to the ground after being punched. CCTV captured the brutal attack, which lasted 32 seconds.

Kevin Bensley, aged 53, said: "Glynis had walked down that road for 30 years and never had a problem. She had lived in Smethwick all her life.

"Robbings and muggings happen everywhere, she never felt she was in any danger."

The siblings then told of their shock when they found out what had happened to their younger sister.

John Bensley, aged 60, said: "We couldn't get over it, we didn't realise until the next morning."

"It always happens to someone else," Kevin added.

For sister Dawn, the shock was perhaps the greatest. She lived with her sister in Rosefield Road and the two were often mistaken as twins, despite Dawn being nine years her senior. With a smile, Kevin described them as being like a married couple.

Dawn was at home when the attack happened, a matter of yards away, in the early hours of September 3 last year.

"It was shocking, you don't expect it to happen on your own doorstep," she said. "It's hard, I still expect her to come back."

Dawn described the attack that caused her sister's death as 'pointless'.

John added: "It opens your eyes to a different world. We are talking two o'clock, four o'clock in the morning.

"He went home at four o'clock in the morning - that is not a normal 13-year-old. They are cowards, the way they did it. She was an easy target."

Kevin speculated that his sister may have previously passed her killers on another night.

"She walked the same way for 30 years, they must have crossed paths before," he said.

Kevin said the young age of the boy who was convicted of murdering his sister meant little to him.

He said: "Whether he was 13, 33, or 53, it doesn't make it any easier."

John said he didn't believe the attackers had spared a thought for their victim.

He said of the outcome of the trial: "Justice has been done. If it hadn't happened to Glynis it would have happened to someone else. It could have happened to anybody."

"Justice has been done and hopefully they can see that. They seemed a bit arrogant in court, there was no remorse.

"They are not sorry, they are sorry they have been caught.

Miss Bensley was born into a large family and was one of nine that grew up in the household in Windmill Lane, Smethwick.

After leaving Arden Road School she worked at the 2 Sisters factory in West Bromwich before turning her attention to volunteer work.

She helped out at the British Heart Foundation shop in Bearwood, where she had been planning to return prior to her death.

She also had a spell volunteering at a care home.

They said one of the last things she did was to help an elderly man onto the bus and that encapsulated what sort of person she was.

Dawn said: "She loved working for charities. She just liked to help people, she would help anybody."

"Nobody had a bad word to say about her," Kevin added.

The trio were speaking before a charity event organised in her memory at the Hollybush pub in The Uplands, Smethwick.

The men took on the women as friends competed in a five-a-side football match, with the proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Care.

The ladies were victorious after a penalty shoot out and awarded the Glynnis Bensley Memorial Cup. The family said they were aiming to make it an annual event.

John said: "People are laughing and trying to get on with their lives. That's what Glynis would want."