The cowardly killer who beat a great-grandfather as he burgled his Wolverhampton home, resulting in the 94-year-old’s death, has today been jailed for life for his murder.
Paul Topham, aged 45, was today told at Wolverhampton Crown Court that he would serve a minimum term of 33 years.
Topham, of Palmerston Road, Birmingham, had travelled to Wolverhampton to carry out a burglary at Harold Monk’s flat in Inglewood Avenue in the early hours of 3 October last year.
A neighbour heard a disturbance and bravely went inside to find Topham on top of Mr Monk assaulting him.
The neighbour alerted the emergency services and we attended within minutes. Officers quickly arrested Topham from off the roof and firearms officers, who have specialist training, were able to give Mr Monk first aid at the scene.
Tragically Mr Monk suffered fractures to his face, skull, spine and ribs in the attack and despite the efforts of medics, he died the following day in hospital with his family beside him.
But Mr Monk had been able to speak to our officers and give details of the attack and his attacker which proved vital in convicting Topham of murder.
Mr Monk’s family wanted us to share some details about his life, saying: “Harold when he was young worked as a book keeper. He worked for Mitchell and Butlers Brewery and then Goodyear where he worked for a long time.
“He was married twice, with two good women behind him, and was very proud of his family. He had three children who have blessed him with, six grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
“Over the years he has lived in a number of areas in the UK , Cornwall, Devon, Shrewsbury settling back in Wolverhampton to be near his family in his latter years. He was enjoying living in Inglewood Court and felt safe, chatting with the other residents and engaging in activities etc.
“He was intelligent and astute and loved completing crosswords and suduko and every night he would complete the Express and Star crossword.”
Speaking previously in tribute, on behalf of Mr Monk’s family, his daughter Patricia said: “Harold, my dad, was a wonderful human being who was loved dearly by his family and we think about him with sadness every day.
“We miss his quirky sense of humour and his huge presence. We miss witnessing the fulfilment he found in everyday life even at 94 years old and he loved to see his grandchildren and great grandchildren grow.”
Detective Inspector Phil Poole, from our Homicide Unit, said: “Cases like this are thankfully extremely rare. It was a unique set of circumstances with Paul Topham being a man on a mission who very deliberately travelled from Birmingham to Wolverhampton to carry out a burglary.
“But Topham’s actions and decisions that night resulted in the tragic death of Harold Monk and today he has been jailed for a very significant length of time.
“Our teams have remained dedicated throughout to bring the callous and cowardly man who killed Mr Monk to justice.
“Mr Monk’s statement proved a powerful and crucial piece of evidence in seeing Topham locked up and we hope that Mr Monk’s family can now find some peace in having seen justice done.”
