Killer brothers left 18th birthday party to rob their grandmother
Jonathan and Robert Maskell broke into the home of 74-year-old widow Anjelica Hallwood, known as Mari, with their sister’s boyfriend Dwane Johnston.
Her body was found the following day. She had been beaten and asphyxiated, the Old Bailey was told.
The geeky brothers and Johnston, aged 19, all from Edmonton, North London, were cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter. The brothers were found guilty of robbery, an offence to which Johnston pleaded guilty.
Judge Gerald Gordon remanded the three in custody for sentence on January 31.
He told the jury the case had “undoubtedly been for you a very depressing one.”
The court was told the youths thought the frail pensioner, known as Nana to all of them, had up to £3,000 stashed away.
They broke into her home nearby and the twins found just over £1,000 as Johnston hit Mrs Hallwood in the face and put pressure on her throat as he pinned her to the ground. After leaving, they bought a mobile top-up card and a kebab before returning to the party in January, 2004.
Anthony Leonard QC, prosecuting, said: “Jonathan Maskell asked his mother whether they could leave the party to meet Johnston to get a birthday card from him. The party continued in their absence.”
The three then went to Mrs Hallwood’s home, where Johnston had been staying since leaving prison the previous day after a sentence for driving offences. They ransacked the house to find money and in the struggle killed the pensioner, who was just 4ft 10in.
The next morning Mrs Hallwood’s daughter, Joan Hallwood, was unable to get into her mother’s house. Johnston arrived and was able to slip the security chain to gain access. They found the house in turmoil and, after being asked to check the grandmother’s bedroom, Johnston told Miss Hallwood he thought her mother was dead.
In court, the Maskells and Johnston tried to blame the killing on each other.
The killing of Mrs Hallwood shocked her close-knit family and the realisation of who had done it was a further blow. Although the Maskells were not blood relatives, they had been treated as grandsons and shown nothing but kindness by Mrs Hallwood. Robert and Jonathan were the sons of her son Peter’s former wife, and half brothers of his daughter Anna, aged 22.
Detective Sergeant Derek Cameron said: “The twins visited her regularly when they were children and lived nearby as extended family. It is a very sad case. She showed them nothing but kindness.”
The Maskells had been friends with Johnston since the ages of 14 when they all attended a school for children with learning difficulties.
The brothers, who were 6ft 2ins tall, and Johnston, who was 6ft 3ins, worked briefly for the Paradise Park zoo but had all driven off with a park vehicle. They had been unemployed since, with the brothers spending their days living what was described as a fantasy life in chatrooms.
One detective said: “If you did not know them, you would think they were an Adonis, the way they described themselves.
“Instead of being hunks, they were geeky and many of the girls would lose interest when they saw their pictures.”
The twins had been suspected when £800 was stolen from Mrs Hallwood on a previous occasion. The family dealt with it themselves rather than contact police.
The family were particularly upset by CCTV pictures taken in local shops the following day showing the Maskells smiling as though they did not have a care in the world, while spending the stolen cash on new mobile phones.
