Case of double-killer who committed third murder while on licence reviewed

The Probation Service wants to see if lessons can be learned from the case of Lawrence Bierton, who killed Pauline Quinn while on licence.

Pauline Quinn received 29 injuries at the hands of Lawrence Bierton (Family Handout/PA) (PA Media)

The case of a double-killer who committed a third murder while on licence has been reviewed to see if lessons can be learned, the Probation Service has said.

Lawrence Bierton bludgeoned his neighbour, 73-year-old Pauline Quinn, to death with her coffee table at her home in Rayton Spur, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, on November 9 2021.

Bierton, 63, was on licence at the time of the offence having been released from a life sentence for the murders of two elderly sisters in the 1990s.

He was found guilty of murdering Ms Quinn on Thursday at Nottingham Crown Court, with the trial judge, Mr Justice Pepperall, telling him that he could be handed a whole life order.

This was an awful crime and our thoughts remain with the family of Pauline Quinn

Probation Service

On Friday, the Probation Service said that a review had been conducted into his case, with the findings to be released after they have been shared with Ms Quinn’s family and Bierton is sentenced.

A spokesperson said: “This was an awful crime and our thoughts remain with the family of Pauline Quinn.

“We have conducted a review into this case and it would be inappropriate to comment further while proceedings are ongoing.”

Jurors in Bierton’s trial were told that he was jailed for life in 1996 for murdering two women the year before, with prosecutors telling them that their killings were “strikingly similar” to Ms Quinn’s murder.

He was released on licence in December 2017 but was recalled to prison in July 2018 after what prosecutor John Cammegh KC described as “repeated failures to address his behaviour”.

He was released a second time in May 2020 to approved premises but moved to Rayton Spur six months later “following concerns about his association with certain individuals”, Mr Cammegh said.

A so-called “alcohol tag” to monitor Bierton was then removed eight months before Ms Quinn’s death after he complained of swelling in his legs.

On the morning of the murder, Bierton, an alcoholic, had drunk rum and vodka and had taken crack cocaine and Subutex, an opioid, before attacking his victim at around 4pm.

He denied murdering “defenceless” Ms Quinn on the grounds of diminished responsibility, claiming his alcohol dependency constituted a “mental abnormality”.

But he was unanimously convicted of Ms Quinn’s “vicious” murder in under an hour on Thursday, having already admitted theft after taking his victim’s car after the killing.

Bierton will be sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court at 10am on Wednesday.