A burglar who killed an 86-year-old pensioner as he protected his 91-year-old wife has been jailed.
Ashley Malcolm, 40, attacked John Burke as he illegally entered the couple’s flat in Hackney, east London on September 29 last year.
The prolific burglar admitted manslaughter and a string of other offences and has now been sentenced for 18 years behind bars, with another five years on licence.
Mr Burke’s grandson, Reece Lambert, told the Old Bailey he believed his grandfather had “protected the woman he loved with everything he had left” as Malcolm rampaged through his home.
Malcolm broke into the couple’s home on Fountayne Road shortly before midnight, headbutting Mr Burke before ransacking the room.
He then returned and spent another 20 minutes in the flat, before leaving with a box under his arm.
Mr Burke, who suffered from dementia, was too scared to leave the room after being attacked.
A carer found him the morning following the assault.
He told her: “Oh thanks you’re here. He attacked me. He beat me up last night around 11pm, a six foot tall man. He used to be one of the caretakers.”
John Burke was described as a ‘hard working, gentle and devoted family man’
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His wife, Peggy, who also has dementia, slept through the burglary.
He was then rushed to Homerton Hospital, but was discharged at 2.35pm.
But the following morning, he was found unconscious by his son Sean, who took him back to hospital.
Doctors said he suffered a “devastating and irreversible” brain injury in the attack.
Mr Burke died later that day.
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Ashley Malcolm, has – over the past 20 years – 12 convictions for burglary and attempted burglary and 10 for assault
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Malcolm, after the horrific attack on Mr Burke, went on to burgle a care home in Hackney and later attempted to break into a couple’s flat in nearby Stamford Hill.
Over the past 20 years, he has received 12 convictions for burglary and attempted burglary and 10 for assault, including headbutting and biting part of a prison officer’s ear off.
Judge Simon Mayo, sentencing, said the 86-year-old was a “hard working, gentle and devoted family man” who continued “to provide support and companionship to his wife and family” even at his advanced age.
The judge noted that Mr Burke’s wife, Peggy, will be particularly affected by his death, having “lost the companionship, love and support of the man with whom she shared her life over many decades”.
Malcom twice headbutted Mr Burke and ransacked his room
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Mr Burke’s son, Sean, told the court: “My dad did not deserve to die in such a way, he had earned the right to pass away from natural causes in his own silent way.
“Looking back now on the events of that night, it angers me to think what this man had put my dad through.
“To think that this man felt that he had to attack my dad, who was a vulnerable and frail elderly person who would never have been able to fight back.
“There was nothing of any value in the house as my parents did not have much, but they had each other.”
He added: “No amount of time spent in prison will ever be enough, because of the harm and life-changing scars he has inflicted on so many people.”
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