A BURGLAR who murdered a blind Brentford pensioner in her home, has today been jailed for 32 years - and branded "a coward of the worst kind" by his victim's family.
Daniel Barnett, 20, of Holly House, Brentford was handed a life sentence for his brutal attack on 77-year-old Jean Farrar, at her home in Brook Road South last October.
Police were called a 2.10am on October 25, 2012, to reports of a disturbance at the address, and found the pensioner, who lived alone and was registered blind, suffering from severe head injuries. She was taken to hospital where she was later pronounced dead on the same day.
A post-mortem examination gave a cause of death as blunt trauma to the head and throat.
Barnett was arrested within minutes of the incident close to the murder scene.
DCI Russell Taylor, of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command (HSCC), who led the investigation, said: "This was a horrendous attack on a vulnerable woman who lived alone. It was clear that Barnett targeted the address with a view to steal property. Having disturbed Ms Farrar, he attacked her, inflicting dreadful injuries. This was a mindless, cowardly and unnecessarily cruel attack on an elderly lady in her own home."
Mrs Farrar's son said in a statement: "Our sense of pain and horror over losing my mother, Jean, in such a violent and brutal way is indescribable. No one can be prepared to lose their mother or grandmother in such a violent way. The memories that we shared with her will never be built upon. The plans that we had made together with her will never come true. The small events that are just part of everyday life: the phone calls, the chats over tea, all lost because of another person's selfish actions.
"All of this has been taken away from us by a person who doesn't even know us. A person who has shown himself to not care about anyone but himself.
"My mother never met her two youngest grandchildren; my two year old twins who I live with in the United States who she was due to meet just a few weeks after she was murdered. They knew their Granny Jeannie from chats on Skype and cards and presents that she would send, but they will never meet her in person and know of the love and joy that she would have brought into their lives.
"The attack that Daniel Barnett carried out on my mum was barbaric, and he has not displayed any signs of remorse or taken any responsibility since. Instead he has made the situation even more agonizing by dragging us through 8 months of waiting for this trial to start and the trial itself, where we have heard the horrific details of my mother's last moments of life. Daniel Barnett has proven himself to be a coward of the worst kind. He attacked a frail, clinically blind, vulnerable 77-year old woman in her own home. A woman who had no chance of defending herself. He showed her no mercy. He showed her no compassion."
