Mrluvaluva
23-05-2007, 11:09 AM
From The Sun
A DISABLED gran was stabbed 97 times by her killer — for 32p in her piggy bank.
Frail Ann Alfanso, 61, was knifed in the head, body, hands and neck by drug-crazed John Mansfield.
Convicted robber Mansfield, 45, was high on heroin, morphine, cocaine and methadone when he used two knives and scissors to butcher his victim, who lived alone.
A court was told that one blade went right through one of Mrs Alfanso’s hands as she tried to protect herself. As he hunted for cash, Mansfield dragged her around her flat before raiding the piggy bank beside the phone and fleeing, leaving her for dead.
Mrs Alfanso’s home help found the body. She alerted cops who followed a trail of blood to Mansfield’s flat in the same block in Whalley Range, Manchester.
He told them he could not remember killing Mrs Alfanso.
Mansfield — who sometimes chatted to his victim and even did her shopping — was jailed for life at Manchester Crown Court after admitting murder.
He must serve at least 25 years before release is considered.
Mr Justice Ouseley told him: “There was an intense and frenzied attack . . . you intended to kill.”
In a victim impact statement, Mrs Alfanso’s distraught daughter Delphins said: “I just keep thinking, ‘Why my mum?’ ”
Det Insp Steve Eckerlsey said afterwards: “The murder was shocking enough in its violence and cowardice, but for her murderer to repeatedly state he couldn’t even remember stabbing her almost 100 times is even more astonishing.
“Ann was an easy target as she wasn’t able to move very quickly as Mansfield knew only too well.
“It would appear the only thing Mansfield got out of murdering Ann was a pocketful of small change. His actions were totally senseless and inhuman, but he knew exactly what he was doing.”
A DISABLED gran was stabbed 97 times by her killer — for 32p in her piggy bank.
Frail Ann Alfanso, 61, was knifed in the head, body, hands and neck by drug-crazed John Mansfield.
Convicted robber Mansfield, 45, was high on heroin, morphine, cocaine and methadone when he used two knives and scissors to butcher his victim, who lived alone.
A court was told that one blade went right through one of Mrs Alfanso’s hands as she tried to protect herself. As he hunted for cash, Mansfield dragged her around her flat before raiding the piggy bank beside the phone and fleeing, leaving her for dead.
Mrs Alfanso’s home help found the body. She alerted cops who followed a trail of blood to Mansfield’s flat in the same block in Whalley Range, Manchester.
He told them he could not remember killing Mrs Alfanso.
Mansfield — who sometimes chatted to his victim and even did her shopping — was jailed for life at Manchester Crown Court after admitting murder.
He must serve at least 25 years before release is considered.
Mr Justice Ouseley told him: “There was an intense and frenzied attack . . . you intended to kill.”
In a victim impact statement, Mrs Alfanso’s distraught daughter Delphins said: “I just keep thinking, ‘Why my mum?’ ”
Det Insp Steve Eckerlsey said afterwards: “The murder was shocking enough in its violence and cowardice, but for her murderer to repeatedly state he couldn’t even remember stabbing her almost 100 times is even more astonishing.
“Ann was an easy target as she wasn’t able to move very quickly as Mansfield knew only too well.
“It would appear the only thing Mansfield got out of murdering Ann was a pocketful of small change. His actions were totally senseless and inhuman, but he knew exactly what he was doing.”