A CHEF has been found guilty of murdering his ex-wife while their five-year-old son slept upstairs.

Adam Mann, aged 29, of Springfield Road, Welling, denied killing Lisa Beverley at her home in Coupland Place, Plumstead, on September 16 last year.

But a jury of four men and eight women found him guilty today (August 17).

He will be sentenced on October 4.

Mann claimed that 30-year-old Miss Beverley had asked him to break into her home and steal some belongings as part of a staged robbery so she could claim from insurance.

But he told jurors that when he got there she was already dead.

The court heard that he burgled the house anyway and left without calling emergency services.

Miss Beverley was beaten, hit with a hammer 25 times and stabbed in the neck, the Old Bailey has heard.

Her only son found her the next morning and called his grandparents.

Prosecution barrister Jeremy Donne told jurors: “He was a man who happily and skilfully lied to the Child Support Agency about his circumstances.

“A man who has told you he was prepared to take part in a dishonest enterprise.

“He was a selfish drug user and was still using drugs at the time of Lisa’s murder and a man who admitted being violent to Lisa in the past.”

The Old Bailey heard that Mann stole a laptop, two mobile phones, an ipod and Nintendo DS from Miss Beverley’s house.

News Shopper: Lisa Beverley was murdered on September 16 last year

During the trial Mr Donne referred to how Mann had logged on to the dead woman’s laptop once he got home, changing the password to the word ‘f*cked’.

He said: “Of all the things to change the password to, the word f*cked is inconceivably, indescribably awful.

“How could anyone but the man who killed her put that on her computer. It truly was a final swipe at her memory.”

Mann told the court that when he went to the house he had second thoughts about going through with the burglary.

Mr Donne said: “We say that it’s pretty unlikely compared to his attitude when he gets inside the house.”

He added: “If he had any feelings for Lisa at all there’s two things you might think he would have done at this stage.

“One, he would have called the emergency services. He couldn’t really know the state Lisa was in.”

Mr Donne told the court that the second thing Mann should have done was to check on his son upstairs to see if he was alright.

Jurors cleared Mann's girlfriend, Elizabeth Kilgallon, of one of two counts of perverting the course of justice but could not decide on the other and were discharged from returning a verdict.

Prosecutors will now have to decide whether to seek a retrial.

Miss Beverley’s family attended the whole trial and more than 420 peope have joined a Facebook group called R.I.P LISA BEVERLEY.

Reaction to the verdict

A statement released by Miss Beverley's family said: “All the family would like to thank every officer involved in this case who have been so caring and respectful throughout.

“A big thanks also to the two Counsel Mr Donne and Mr Evans. Our family can never forget Lisa, she will be in our hearts always, but now a line can be drawn under this and our lives come back to some normality.

“Little Shaun we will bring up as his mother would have done. Our lives now revolve around him. We are just glad that justice has been served. ”

Detective Chief Inspector Brian Mather said: “This was a dreadful and tragic case and one cannot imagine how Lisa's young son must have felt finding his mother dead under such horrendous circumstances.

“The actions of Mann are indescribable, that he could murder the mother of his son and leave him to discover her body.

“I hope that, whilst today's conviction won't bring Lisa back, her family will at least see justice served.”