BBC Information
The daughter of a murdered girl says her life shattered when she noticed the killer enter her mom’s house by way of a hoop doorbell alert.
Dean Mears dragged grandmother Catherine Flynn, 69, from her mattress and stamped on her, breaking each bone in her face throughout the assault in October 2024.
Mrs Flynn’s daughter Natasha Flynn-Farrell stated she watched helplessly after she acquired a doorbell digital camera alert of the drug vendor breaking into her mom’s house within the seaside city of Rhyl in Denbighshire.
Jailing him for all times with a 27 12 months and 128 day minimal time period, Choose Rhys Rowlands stated Mears, 35, was answerable for a “savage, and fairly ferocious and cruel assault”.
He stated the recording captured on the doorbell digital camera “can solely be described as horrific”.
“It was by all accounts a really stunning and merciless method to finish her life.”
Mears, from Kinmel Bay in Conwy, was discovered responsible of homicide after a nine-day trial in Caernarfon in Could.
The jury heard he had taken ketamine and hashish earlier than breaking into the frail grandmother’s house – a girl he had by no means met.
He then smashed a window and entered the house, going straight to Mrs Flynn’s bed room.
He could possibly be heard screaming at her earlier than the sickening sound of stamping was captured on the doorbell recording.
Mrs Flynn was taken to hospital after struggling in depth facial trauma and a number of fractures, the place she died the next day.
Prosecutor Andrew Jones KC stated she had suffered critical well being and mobility points, and used a stairlift and a strolling body inside her home.
She was simply 4ft 10in (1.47m) and weighed lower than eight stone (50kg).
Household photographMrs Flynn-Farrell addressed her mom’s killer within the dock on Friday.
“You Dean Mears – you may’t even have a look at me,” she stated.
“You did not simply kill my mum – you killed part of me.
“You Dean Mears took the sunshine out of my life.
“I need my phrases and my face to be etched into your mind.”
She stated she lived with the footage and sounds captured by the doorbell digital camera throughout the assault.
“I hear these thuds to her head, face and neck day-after-day.
“It replays in my in sluggish movement – thud, thud, thud.
“That second was the vilest, sickening second of my life.
“How might you do what you probably did to my mum – my queenie. It is best to grasp your head in disgrace.
“You’re nothing however a coward. I will by no means forgive you Dean Mears.”
North Wales PolicePathologist Dr Brian Rodgers advised the jury Mrs Flynn’s accidents have been “the sorts of accidents you see in high-speed street visitors collisions”.
The doorbell recording instructed there have been as much as 15 blows from her killer.
Mears admitted he had carried out the assault, however stated he had no recollection of what occurred.
His defence group argued Mears had been affected by post-traumatic stress dysfunction (PTSD), after being stabbed twice following a jail sentence for drug dealing.
Talking to BBC Wales earlier than the sentencing, Mrs Flynn-Farrell recounted the second she acquired the doorbell notification to inform her somebody was at her mom’s entrance door.
“It’s the worst night time of my life I’ve ever skilled,” she stated.
“My life simply shattered in that second,” she stated.
“As quickly as I clicked on that notification, that was the second my world crumbled.”
Mrs Flynn-Farrell was house alone as occasions unfolded a brief drive away at her mom’s home, and will solely watch and hear till Mears left earlier than she might telephone the police.
“For these two minutes I needed to watch that out. It felt like two hours. I used to be hysterical.”
Arriving on the home, Mrs Flynn-Farrell was stored exterior whereas police went in to see what had occurred to her mom.
“I did comprehend it was critical however I used to be attempting to inform myself it was going to be OK, that hopefully it wasn’t as unhealthy as what I might heard.
“Nevertheless it was terrible. It was the worst consequence that would have ever occurred for her – and for all our household.”
Mrs Flynn-Farrell stated Mears was “not well worth the air we breathe”.
“To have the ability to try this to a defenceless, 69-year-old, frail, seven stone little girl. She was like somewhat doll.
“He is a monster and he is a coward.
Mrs Flynn-Farrell stated her mom’s homicide has had a profound have an effect on on her and people round her.
“There are such a lot of lives he has ripped aside,” she stated.
“The ripple impact this has had – not simply on the household, on the group, on full strangers. It has been a whirlwind of feelings for everybody.”
She stated she was nonetheless residing with the affect day-after-day.
“I discover it exhausting most days to rise up and exit. I do not need to see anybody, I’ve misplaced contact with my buddies.
“It is given me unhealthy anxiousness, melancholy, PTSD. I do not even watch the telly anymore, in case issues set off it.
“I am residing a nightmare nonetheless.”
Mrs Flynn-Farrell stated she hoped the sentencing might lastly convey some closure to the tragedy and needs to have the ability to assist others dealing with household trauma sooner or later.
She coined the social media tag #JusticeforQueenie because the homicide case went via the court docket system, as a platform to recollect her mom and to speak about what had occurred.
“It isn’t only for my mum – it is for everybody’s Queenie,” she stated.
“I need this to hold on and be a platform towards violence for girls and ladies. It’s going to be used to assist different organisations, femicide consciousness and issues like that.”
