Telford man gets life sentence for Davinia murder
Murderer Kevin Hyden has been handed a life sentence for killing spinster Davinia Loynton in her own living room.
Hyden must serve a minimum of 32 years before being considered for release.
The battered and bloodied body of Miss Loynton, 59, was found rolled up in her living room rug at her flat by distraught friends and colleagues after she failed to show up for work at the office she had run for 30 years.
Drug addict Hyden, 35, had burst into the flat in Telford when she answered the door to him on September 20 last year.
Prosecutors at Stafford Crown Court said Hyden tortured his victim to reveal the pin numbers to her bank cards before smashing her skull in and cutting her throat.
The court heard he then withdrew more than £2,700 from her bank accounts in just two days, using the cash to buy hundreds of pounds worth of cocaine.
Hyden, of Glebe Street, Wellington, had denied murdering Miss Loynton at her flat in St John Street, Wellington. But he was found guilty today after a trial at Stafford Crown Court.
He claimed throughout the case he had found Miss Loynton's bag containing her purse and mobile phone in a bag in a nearby field.
Hyden's 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.
Lucas was released on bail while a pre-sentence report is prepared.
See Wednesday's Shropshire Star for more on this story
