Killer jailed for hammer attack on landlady (From Wiltshire Times)

Killer jailed for hammer attack on landlady

A lodger who beat his landlady to death with a hammer at her home in Trowbridge, then along with his boyfriend dumped her body in the River Avon, has been jailed for a minimum of 20 years.

Marc Riley

Marc Riley, who admitted murder, refused to leave his cell to attend the sentencing hearing at Bristol Crown Court earlier this afternoon. He attacked Mrs Guarino, 61, in the kitchen of her home in Osborne Road, on January 8.

Then along with his boyfriend, David Carr-Burstow, 20, who was cleared by a jury of murder but sentenced to four years in jail after admitting obstructing a coroner, they wrapped her body up in a shower curtain and dumped it in the River Avon.

Carr-Burstow could be freed from prison in less than a year. He will serve half of his four year sentence in a Young Offenders’ Institution, before being released on licence, but he has already served 241 days since being arrested on suspicion of murder in January.

Before sentencing, the court was told how both defendants had previous convictions.

Riley was given a police caution in April 2008 for hitting Carr-Burstow at a fair in Wiltshire. The pair had struck up a relationship the same year after meeting at the Amber Foundation in Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, where they both were living.

Carr-Burstow has a string of previous offences, including three counts of attempted theft, burglary, criminal damage, battery and possessing a bayonet in a public place.

Judge Crowther, before sentencing Carr-Burstow, said: “What you did was to give direct help to Marc Riley, in a way your own counsel has accepted was wicked in itself and callous and cruel on its impact on the family.”

On hearing the sentencing, Mrs Guarino’s daughter Giulietta, 35, burst into tears, and at least one jury member was sobbing.

Judge Crowther said Riley would be sentenced for murder, as the charge of obstructing a coroner, which he had also admitted, was an aggravating feature.

He said other aggravating features of the murder included the fact Mrs Guarino was in poor health, the fact she was subjected to a ‘sudden, violent and overwhelming attack’ and that Riley was in a position of trust, as her lodger.