Homeless man jailed for beating woman to death after she tried to help him
He abused her trust, punching her repeatedly in the head and stamping on her chest.
A homeless man who beat a woman to death after she tried to help him has been jailed for at least 23 years.
Gavin Lewis, 41, was sentenced to life in prison after he admitted murdering Sandra Samuels, 44, in August last year.
Her body was discovered at her home in Stoke Newington, north London, after a concerned family member raised the alarm.
CCTV footage from the landing outside her flat showed Lewis had visited her numerous times in the days before her death.
Prosecutor Gareth Patterson QC said ‘vulnerable’ Ms Samuels had shown kindness to Lewis, feeding him and allowing him to stay while he was homeless.
But Lewis abused her trust and punched her repeatedly in the head and stamped on her chest.
While dead or dying, he covered her body with a duvet and other items from around the flat, the court heard.
Lewis had a history of violence and previous convictions for attacking women.
In 2002, he was found guilty of assault, robbery and breaching licence conditions after punching two women outside a pub when they refused him a cigarette.
In 2011, he admitted assaulting another woman by punching her in the face and hitting her with a wine bottle while threatening to ‘cut out her eyeballs’.
And in 2013, he was found guilty of attacking a girlfriend in her flat.
Sentencing Lewis, Judge Nigel Lickley QC said: ‘I conclude any woman was at risk if alone with you.’
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Ms Samuels’ mother, Juliette Samuels, said: ‘To have Sandra taken from us in such a cruel way, knowing what her last moments may have been like, is torture for us.
‘Sandra took Gavin Lewis in, fed him when he was hungry, gave him somewhere to lay his head when he had nowhere else to go.
‘We can never forgive Gavin Lewis for taking Sandra away from our family.’
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