Elderly couple ‘hog-tied, gagged and beaten in own home for £30,000 savings’

Elderly couple 'hog-tied, gagged and beaten in own home for £30,000 savings'
Vasile Culea (left) is alleged to have subjected Freda and Kenneth Walker to a ‘savage and cruel’ assault at their house in Derbyshire (Image: JPI Media/Helen Tipper/SWNS)

An 86-year-old lady died after she and her husband suffered ‘frankly horrific’ accidents once they had been overwhelmed, gagged and ‘hog-tied’ by an intruder looking for £30,000 in money, a court docket heard. 

Vasile Culea, 34, is alleged to have subjected Freda and Kenneth Walker to a ‘savage and cruel’ assault at their house in Derbyshire on January 14 this 12 months. 

Derby Crown Court docket heard the retired seamstress was discovered useless within the kitchen by emergency companies the next day after neighbours expressed issues for the couple. 

She had been gagged, the jury was advised, and he or she had no less than two coverings over her head that had been knotted – a pillowcase and a bin liner. 

Mrs Walker had additionally been ‘hog-tied’ together with her ‘wrists certain collectively, the decrease limbs certain collectively and the 2 tied collectively’. 

Jurors had been advised she would have had an affordable probability of survival had she not been ‘deserted with none help’ and ‘with coverings to her face obstructing her airway’. 

In the meantime, city councillor Mr Walker, 88, who suffered a mind damage, was discovered to have been gagged and certain on the wrists and knees, along with his bindings additionally tied to one another. 

He died some months later, though his loss of life was not related to the assault. 

**TV OUT** FILE PICTURE - Artists impression of Vasile Culea, 33, appearing at Nottingham Magistrates Court on Saturday 22 January, 2022, accused of the murder of Freda Walker and the attempted murder of Kenneth Walker on January 14 at Langwith Junction, Derbyshire. An 86-year-old charity worker was tortured in front of her husband by a burglar demanding their life-savings - before being hog-tied and left to die in an attack 'devoid of mercy', a court heard. See SWNS story SWCCmurder. Vasile Culea, 33, has gone on trial accused of murdering Freda Walker and attempting to murder her 88-year-old husband Ken, a former mayor, at their home in January. A court heard the elderly couple were both 'severely beaten' before being 'bound, hog-tied, gagged and left to their fate' at their home of 60 years in Langwith Junction, Derby. Culea launched the 'brutal, savage and merciless' attack after forcing his way into their property in the hunt for ?30,000 the couple had recently withdrawn, jurors were told. The Romanian national had 'lay in wait' under the cover of darkness after making several reconnaissance trips around the house earlier in the day, it is claimed.
Court docket artist sketch of Vasile Culea throughout a earlier look at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court docket (Image: Helen Tipper/SWNS)

FILE PICTURE - Freda & Kenneth Walker. The trial of a man charged with murdering an 86-year-old pensioner and leaving her husband with life-threatening injuries is expected to start today at Derby Crown Court, October 11, 2022. See SWNS story SWCCmurder. Freda Walker was found dead at her home in Station Road, Langwith Junction, Derbyshire, on 15 January. Her husband Ken was critically injured and taken to hospital. Mr Walker died in August from natural causes. Vasile Culea, 33, of Grove Road, Church Warsop, Nottinghamshire, denies Mrs Walker's murder and the attempted murder of Mr Walker.
Kenneth and Freda Walker (Image: JPI Media/SWNS)

On the primary day of his trial on Tuesday, Culea admitted the manslaughter of Mrs Walker and inflicting grievous bodily hurt on Mr Walker. 

He denies prices of homicide, tried homicide and wounding with intent. 

Opening the Crown’s case, prosecutor Michael Auty KC stated: ‘The difficulty on this case is what the defendant’s intention was. 

He added: [Mr and Mrs Walker] That they had been deserted to their destiny. 

‘In selecting to assault victims in the way in which that he did, that demonstrates that the assault was utterly devoid of any mercy. We are saying that tells you one thing about what his intention actually was.’

After jurors had been proven a photograph of Mr and Mrs Walker, pictured when he was made an alderman a 12 months earlier than the assault, Mr Auty added: ‘We don't anticipate that there will probably be any dispute that throughout the time period that the frankly horrific accidents had been inflicted… that there was anyone within the house apart from Kenneth Walker, Freda Walker and the defendant. 

‘We are saying that the defendant, for causes I shall come to, attacked this aged couple within the sanctuary of their very own house. 

‘His assault was far past any justification, savage in its nature and sustained.’ 

FILE PICTURE - Freda & Kenneth Walker. An 86-year-old charity worker was tortured in front of her husband by a burglar demanding their life-savings - before being hog-tied and left to die in an attack 'devoid of mercy', a court heard. See SWNS story SWCCmurder. Vasile Culea, 33, has gone on trial accused of murdering Freda Walker and attempting to murder her 88-year-old husband Ken, a former mayor, at their home in January. A court heard the elderly couple were both 'severely beaten' before being 'bound, hog-tied, gagged and left to their fate' at their home of 60 years in Langwith Junction, Derby. Culea launched the 'brutal, savage and merciless' attack after forcing his way into their property in the hunt for ?30,000 the couple had recently withdrawn, jurors were told. The Romanian national had 'lay in wait' under the cover of darkness after making several reconnaissance trips around the house earlier in the day, it is claimed.
Jurors have heard the aged couple had been certain, ‘hog-tied’, gagged and ‘left to their destiny’ (Image: Derbyshire Police / SWNS)

Describing how Mr Walker had hidden £5,000 bundles round his ‘cluttered’ bed room after withdrawing £30,000 to fund house enhancements, Mr Auty went on: ‘It isn't solely clear how the defendant got here to be taught of the existence of the £30,000. 

‘What this case is admittedly all about is that he determined he was going to have it.’ 

Culea, of Church Warsop, Nottinghamshire, was caught on CCTV as he carried out 4 ‘reconnaissance mission’ circuits of the realm in his automotive, and an additional three on foot, the court docket heard. 

The defendant, who's being assisted throughout the case by a Romanian interpreter, can also be alleged to have worn a high-visibility jacket in a bid to ‘go about unnoticed’. 

The trial continues. 

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