LIFE TERM FOR 'COWARD' WHO KILLED GRAN WITH 'UNSPEAKABLE CRUELTY'

THE life of a much-loved nan was snatched away in an 'explosive and cowardly' attack of 'unspeakable ferocity and cruelty.

- By DAVID POWELL Daily Post Reporter

Dean Mears, 35, smashed his way into Catherine Flynn’s house on Cefndy Road in Rhyl late at night on October 24 before stamping on the defenceless 69-year-old’s head and neck 15 times, shattering every bone in her face.

Mears, of Bodelwyddan Avenue, Kinmel Bay, was sentenced to life imprisonment at Caernarfon Crown Court yesterday. He will serve a minimum term of 27 years before he is even considered for parole.

He had admitted killing Mrs Flynn but denied murder, but was convicted by a jury following a nine-day trial last month.

Judge Rhys Rowlands’ sentence was applauded in the public gallery by family and friends of the devoted family woman.

The judge praised Mrs Flynn’s loved ones for their ‘quite remarkable forbearance’ during a harrowing trial.

Sentencing Mears, the judge said he accepted the killing was not premeditated but Mears had committed it for gain and lost his temper with Mrs Flynn.