Court told carer killed man with hammer

Published on 03/07/2012 01:53

A CARER “brutally” beat a man to death in a “deliberate and sustained” hammer attack after he changed his will to leave her £340,000, a court has heard.

Paul Norfolk, 77, was found dead in his blood-splattered bed at his home in Haverhill, Suffolk, when police entered the house on 30 December, prosecutor Andrew Jackson told Ipswich Crown Court. Alongside him, police found the badly injured defendant, Bunthawee Rimmer.

Less than three months before his death, Mr Norfolk had changed his will to leave his house and most of his money to Rimmer instead of his wife, who was in a care home.

Rimmer, 49, originally from Thailand, who claimed she was in a relationship with Mr Norfolk, is alleged to have beaten Mr Norfolk to death as he slept. She denies murder.

Mr Jackson said Mr Norfolk had lain injured and unconscious for 15 hours following the attack. Rimmer did nothing to seek help, he added.

“You may think money played a rather important role,” Mr Jackson told jurors. “Whether or not she killed him for his money only she knows.”

He added: “She did it by raining blows on to his head using a 16oz claw hammer. He did not move, he did not struggle.

“He was probably asleep when he was murdered.”

After the alleged attack, Rimmer drank toilet cleaner, stabbed herself in the chest, slashed her own throat and swallowed tablets, the prosecutor added.

When interviewed by police, she claimed she had begun a relationship with Mr Norfolk and said he had been abusive towards her.

Rimmer had moved into Mr Norfolk’s home in late 2010 to help care for his wife, Esme, shortly after the death of her husband, Geoffrey Rimmer. Mr Rimmer, who died of natural causes, was a friend of Mr Norfolk and the pair had travelled to Thailand during the 1990s.

The case is expected to last up to three weeks.