Man ‘repaid gran’s kindness’ with murder before setting house on fire | UK | News
A man sneaked into his grandmother’s house while she was sleeping and strangled her with a belt, then buried her house to get an inheritance. Joshua Powell was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 26 years after his mother said she would try to forgive him.
Powell, 27, killed 96-year-old Emma Finch and then set fire to her home in Mill Road, Liss, Hampshire, in the early hours of May 17 last year. The 27-year-old actor visits his grandmother, whom he calls Oma, once a week and described her as “the only thing I can trust in my life” in a letter of apology to Portsmouth Crown Court. The court heard he was in debt, owed money to his landlord and had “run away”.
Judge Michael Bowes KC said: “Your grandmother, Emma Finch, showed you great kindness throughout her life and gave you a large sum of money.
“You repaid his kindness by brutally murdering him in the expectation of profiting from his death in accordance with his will.”
Family members said they would never forgive Powell in victim impact statements read by prosecutors. The defendant’s mother, Catherine Powell, Finch’s daughter, said she would “always struggle to forgive him for what he did”.
Peter Finch, Mrs Finch’s son and Powell’s uncle, said: “One of my greatest fears was that my mother knew it was Joshua in the final seconds before she lost consciousness as you strangled her, and that this was the last, haunting memory she took with her to her grave.
“You, Joshua, betrayed the love of your mother and Oma that night and that is something I can never forgive you for.
“I hope you suffer deeply for these actions for the rest of your life. “Did my mother, your oma, really deserve to be killed for the sake of the balance of her inheritance? The question only you can answer.”
In his letter to the court, Powell called his crime “inexcusable,” adding that he did not seek forgiveness from heartbroken family members.
The defendant wrote: “The word sorry doesn’t even cover how I feel about the inexcusable, truly horrific crime I committed.” wrote the defendant.
“Oma was the one constant in my life that I could count on. No matter how well or badly I behaved as a child, she was there for me. She was a wonderful, caring, loving, happy woman, and when she walked into a room she suddenly lit up the room tenfold.”
“Forgiveness is not something I expect from any member of the family. Even I do not forgive the actions I committed on that fateful day.
“Guilt is something I have to learn to live with. It eats away at me, eating away at my dandruff and my thoughts every second of every day.
“I am truly sorry from the depths of my now-destroyed heart and soul.”
The court heard Powell was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome and reduced cognitive function, but the judge said Powell “knew very well the difference between right and wrong”.
Powell, of Elmfield Court in Lindford, pleaded guilty to murdering his grandmother in May.
