Stafford woman guilty of perverting course of justice in murder case
A woman from Stafford has been found guilty of perverting the course of justice after providing a murderer with a false alibi.
Kevin Hyden, was this afternoon found guilty of murdering spinster Davinia Loynton in her flat in Wellington.
His partner, Emma Lucas, 39, of Keats Avenue, Stafford, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice by providing Hyden with a false alibi. She had denied the charge at Stafford Crown Court.
35-year-old Hyden of Glebe Street, Wellington, Telford, had denied a charge of murdering Miss Loynton on September 20 last year.
Office manager Davinia Loynton, 59, was settling down for a quiet Saturday to read her newspaper when she inadvertently opened the door to her killer.
Her battered and bloodied body was found rolled up in her living room rug by distraught friends and colleagues after she failed to show up on the Monday morning at the office she had run for 30 years.
Hyden, who lived in a flat near to the victim, tortured 59-year-old Miss Loynton in her home to get the Pin numbers for her bank cards, in a bid to get cash to fuel his drug habit, before killing her, the jury was told during the trial.
He had broken into Miss Loynton's maisonette on another occasion, Miss Deborah Gould, prosecuting, told the court.
Among Miss Loynton's injuries were a fractured skull caused by a heavy weapon like a hammer and extensive fractures to the cheek, nose, jaw and eye socket. A pathologist likened the injuries to those of a car crash victim or a fall from a great height.
Lucas was released on bail while a pre-sentence report is prepared.
