Donald Ralph murder: Killer who strangled pensioner gets life

Leighton Snook, 28, strangled and beat 83-year-old Donald Ralph at the victim’s Aldham home in December last year.

He enlisted the help of 17-year-old Tyler Love, who can be named for the first time after a successful bid to lift reporting restrictions by the Gazette.

Snook had hatched a plan to steal firearms from his relative Mr Ralph, hoping to sell them on to clear a debt he claimed he had accrued with drug dealers.

Ipswich Crown Court heard Snook was “the confidence trickster”, who used the fact he was known to Mr Ralph to gain entry to his bungalow, where he lived alone.

At a sentencing hearing today, Judge Martyn Levett said: “Once inside, you lowered your face mask and within a matter of moments you grabbed hold of him, punched him and strangled him to death.”

Scene - Mr Ralph was found dead at his bungalow in Aldham

A pathologist identified three fractures to Mr Ralph’s cheek bone area, as well as abrasions to his neck, throat and back.

Judge Levett added: “DNA matching his was found on your clothing, particularly the collar area, suggesting close contact during a struggle.”

Love’s role in the burglary was to “act as a lookout, provide backup for the violence if necessary, or to reinforce any threat of violence by showing a knife if needs be”.

Two guns, a Ruger self-loading .22 calibre rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun, were stolen from Mr Ralph’s house and the pair fled the scene in their victim’s Volvo.

Despite Judge Levett’s plea with both defendants to reveal information which could help to trace the weapons, both remained silent.

He said: “The fact that you, Leighton Snook, are not prepared to say where either of these two firearms went, means that I ask myself why you are not prepared to assist in the recovery of the guns.

“I do not think it’s because you do not know, nor that you are scared or in fear of any retribution, but rather I suspect you want to protect the criminals in whose hands these firearms now remain in their possession.”

Read more: 

• Man killed his relative in 'incomprehensible' murder before fleeing with car and guns
• Pensioner was beaten and strangled to death during burglary, court told

Snook was convicted of murder and burglary after a trial, while Love was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter. He admitted burglary ahead of the trial.

Snook was also sentenced for two counts of theft of a motor vehicle after he stole cars from dealerships in Colchester and Kesgrave, in Suffolk, as well as for possession of a knife found on his person upon his arrest.

Isabella Forshall QC, for Snook, described the events as a “horribly gone wrong burglary where an old man bravely put up a fight”.

She said Snook had used cocaine from a “young age”.

Christopher Paxton QC, for Love, said a report described the boy as “easily led”.

He said the youngster played a “minor role” in the incident.

In a handwritten letter, read by the judge, the boy said: “I’m sorry for my involvement in the crime that ended up with someone’s death.

“I didn’t know that was gonna happen.”

He added it was “never my intention for someone to be either really seriously injured or someone to be killed”, and he was “sincerely sorry”.

Sentencing Snook, of Albrighton Croft, Colchester, to life with a minimum of 30 years before he can be considered for parole, the judge said: “It was a brutal way to kill another human being, he was an elderly man in his 80s, who lived on his own and was obviously vulnerable but in good health and had every prospect of living until he was 100 years old.

“Worse still it is clear to me that he was targeted by you because you thought he had valuable assets which you could sell to make money.

“During the trial I watched you give evidence and listening to your account, what you needed money for is still a bit of a mystery.”

He added: “You said during evidence that you spend £800 a night on cocaine but then could leave it alone for about two weeks.

“You said that you were acting as a middleman in trying to recover money for friends who you had worked for as a drug runner, and with you association with such criminals I have every belief that you know perfectly well where those guns are and what has happened to them.”

Love, of Darien Way, Leicester, was sentenced to eight years detention in a young offenders’ institution, taking into account strict sentencing guidelines for sentencing youths and for manslaughter.

Judge Levett said: “Whilst you cannot turn the clock back, you are able to ensure that the way forward is to live a law-abiding life with proper guidance.

“A young person’s mind is impressionable, a young brain is not fully developed.

"Judgements, avoiding situations, and knowing the difference between right and wrong are part of a growing up process, although I am bound to accept that necessarily, your culpability is much reduced because of your young age.”