A WINDOW cleaner who stabbed an 88 year-old great-grandmother to death before tearing her rings from her fingers was jailed for 32 years today (Mar 8).

Daniel Franklin, 34, murdered Irene Barrett in a “vicious and prolonged” attack in her home in Valiant House, Charlton, before selling her treasured jewellery for just £40.

The cocaine addict had known Mrs Barrett since childhood but was stealing from her. The Old Bailey heard he snapped after the housebound pensioner caught him trying to get more cash during an early morning visit to her 15th floor flat.

Mrs Barrett’s battered body was found hidden under bedclothes when a carer arrived two hours later on May 14 last year.

The retired secretary, whose health had recently deteriorated, suffered 21 knife wounds and 32 blunt injuries including a cut to the hand as she tried to fend off her attacker.

Jurors heard the elderly woman relied on her son David Barrett to cash her cheques for her and would keep money hidden around her house in a cupboard or under a rug.

She had recently told him she suspected odd-job man Franklin of stealing her money, the court heard.

Mr Barrett said: “I was told we had this problem with missing money and she said she had concerns about the window cleaner.

“I only knew him as Danny. I said I would clean her windows and she should tell him she didn't need his services any more.

“She expressed surprise at the number of occasions he visited, not just to clean the windows.”

Franklin, of Felixstowe Road, Abbey Wood, was arrested days after the killing but told officers he had been watching the hit movie Avatar with his girlfriend.

He was found guilty of murder by a jury majority verdict today.

News Shopper: Irene Barrett, 88, was stabbed to death at her flat in Charlton Judge Richard Hone sentenced him to life imprisonment and ordered he serve a minimum of 32 years.

Hesaid: “This involved gruesome violence against an 88-year-old widow in her own home, a frail and vulnerable lady who you described as a second mum, who supported you through the years by giving you work.

“You repaid her with 21 stab wounds and 32 blunt injuries. Only the craving for crack cocaine complete with your abnormally violent and explosive temper can explain what you did.

“Telling lie after lie in a an attempt to save your skin, it seems you have absolutely zero insight into what you did. You are in my judgement a seriously dangerous individual.”

He added: “Her injuries show she must have been fighting for her life for a significant time and she must have died in a state of terror.

“You have destroyed the life of Irene Barrett's family, who have to live with the horror with which you murdered their treasured mother and grandmother.”

In a victim impact statement her son said: “We will never get over the dreadful manner in which she died. Our lives will never be the same.

“My mother led a good life and she deserved a better ending than this man inflicted upon her. What he did was cowardly beyond belief.”

Mrs Barrett had sent her 14 year-old great-grandson a birthday card before her death and it arrived on May 17, two days after her murder.