Woman, 44, and teenager, 17, who hacked dementia-stricken pensioner with a machete before strangling him to death and hiding his body in a shed are jailed - as CCTV shows couple withdrawing £300 of his cash to buy alcohol

A woman and teenage boy hacked a dementia-stricken pensioner with a machete and strangled him to death before cramming his body into a TV box and splurging his money on alcohol and drugs.

Antoinette Sheppard, 44, and Kieron Spicer, 17, murdered ‘kind and gentle’ Michael Brady at Sheppard’s flat in Radford, Coventry on Father’s Day last year.

A court heard Sheppard befriended 74-year-old Mr Brady and invited him to her home after the evil pair – who were in a ‘toxic’ sexual relationship – hatched a plot to kill and rob him on June 18 last year.

CCTV shows Mr Brady entering the address shortly after 6pm and at the same time messages were exchanged between the defendants discussing robbing him.

Mr Brady suffered blunt force injuries as a result of being attacked with ‘a sharp instrument’ and was also strangled during the brutal attack.

Antoinette Sheppard, 44, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 30 years

Kieron Spicer, 17, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 18 years

‘Kind and gentle’ Michael Brady was murdered at Sheppard’s flat in Radford, Coventry on Father’s Day last year

After killing Mr Brady, who had been in and out of hospital for the year prior to his death, the callous pair put his body in a large TV box before dragging it to an external shed to hide.

Sheppard and Spicer, who was 16 at the time of the killing, then stole Mr Brady’s bank card, taking it to a nearby shop where they are caught on camera withdrawing more than £300 to buy alcohol.

The police were then called, leading to the pair’s arrest.

Today Sheppard, who Warwick Crown Court heard struggled with an alcohol addiction and mental health problems, was jailed for a minimum of 30 years while baby-faced Spicer, now 17, was sentenced to 18 years after being found guilty of murder.

The court heard how Sheppard ‘groomed’ the teenager with sex before their relationship turned into a ‘maelstrom of violence’.

Spicer’s name was allowed to be published by the judge at the sentencing hearing at Warwickshire Justice Centre, following a prosecution application.

Judge Andrew Lockhart KC said: ‘Taking into account all of the circumstances in this case, I find there is no good reason to retain reporting restrictions following Kieron’s conviction and sentence,’ he told Warwick Crown Court.

‘In my judgement, there is a strong public interest in full and unrestricted reporting of what is plainly an exceptional case.’

In summing up the case, the judge said: ‘This was a particularly serious planned murder which was carried into effect with enormous brutality.

Shephard and Spicer took Mr Brady’s card and withdrew £300 from a cashpoint to spend on alcohol

CCTV showed the pair arriving outside an off-licence where they purchased booze

The court was told both suspects blamed each other for Mr Brady’s death in police interviews, claiming they each tried to stop the other.

During their trial, phone messages were shown in which Sheppard and Spicer discussed inflicting violence on someone.

One message from Spicer, who the court heard also has mental health issues, said: ‘I am on one. I am going to hurt people.’

Following concerns from members of the public, police were called to the address on Bowness Close.

When they arrived, officers searched the shed, found Mr Brady’s body and arrested Sheppard on suspicion of murder.

Spicer phoned Sheppard at this time and, when officers answered, said: ‘If you want to speak to me, you’ll have to find me.’

He was later found after he told a social worker he had been asked to hide a body.

The court heard how Sheppard had groomed Spicer to commit offences and neither defendant had showed any remorse.

A victim impact statement from Mr Brady’s family said: ‘We do not understand; nor will we ever understand the violence shown to my dad, a vulnerable, ailing, gentle man who trusted people.

‘We have not only had to witness our loved one battling against his illness but we have had to sit through and hear every horrifying, disgusting detail of the brutal ending of my father and how he was trying to defend himself.

‘Telling my family, friends, and work colleagues that my dad had been murdered was surreal and devastating.

Following concerns from members of the public, police were called to the address on Bowness Close

CCTV footage showed Mr Brady arriving at Shephard’s flat on Father’s Day last year

‘The words feeling foreign when they left my mouth. It is still difficult now to say the words out loud.

‘Prior to all of this my dad was a kind man, generous and hardworking, he loved to laugh and had many friends.’

The judge said the details of Mr Brady’s death would ‘scar the family forever’.

Describing the killers’ relationship, he continued: ‘Initially it was relatively normal but by the summer of 2023, this had changed. The relationship moved from something that was normal to something that was seriously abnormal and wholly disturbing.

‘You (Sheppard) were grooming him to your own ends. My clear conclusion is that as you descended into a maelstrom of violence, you (Sheppard) allied yourself to Kieron, already a young person veering off the straight and narrow.

‘This suited your purposes. He was someone you could use to your own purposes. You (Spicer) were acting as an enforcer for Miss Sheppard.’

He said they formed a ‘bizarre team’ that was keen to ‘mete out violence for your own purposes and because you enjoyed it’.

The judge added that, fuelled by booze and drugs, the pair ‘enjoyed your lawlessness, you were both excited by the prospect of using violence against others.’ He added it was that the situation was a ‘powder keg ready to go off’.

‘This was a toxic relationship that was bound to end in tragedy.’

Judge Lockhart said that Sheppard lured Mr Brady into the bedroom, engaging him in a sex act, when Spicer burst in with a machete. He added he had no doubt Sheppard had been ‘exploiting’ Mr Brady and demanding money for sex ‘for some time’ prior to the murder.

‘He begged for you (Spicer) to stop, but your did not,’ the judge said. ‘His suffering was frankly enormous and there were over 50 separate injuries including broken bones. You, Kieron, stamped on his chest with such huge force, breaking several ribs.’

He explained: ‘Despite the terrible beating, Mr Brady sadly clung onto his life, but this could not be allowed to happen, so you decided he must die and the ligature was wrapped around his neck and you, Miss Sheppard, literally squeezed the life from him.’

The twisted pair then put the pensioner’s body into an old TV box, pushing it out of the flat and shoving it into a nearby shed.

‘It was removed in the most undignified of ways from the flat, the body of Mr Brady, which deserved respect, was literally cramped into the large television box you had to hand and pushed into the tiny shed.

‘It shows a powerful lack of respect.’

Ten minutes later the pair used a cash card they had stolen from Mr Brady to withdraw £300 which they blew on booze and drugs.

Just hours earlier the pair had failed in another bid to kill a different man after he managed to talk them down and escape from the flat.

‘I’m plain that had he not he too would have been slain by you two,’ the judge said. ‘This utterly terrifying event was a pre-cursor to the terrible events that were about to unfold.’

Detective Inspector Jim Colclough, of West Midlands Police, said: ‘This was a tragic case of a vulnerable man being killed by people he thought he could trust.

‘This was a planned and pre-meditated act of violence, with messages exchanged between both defendants discussing what they were going to do.

‘Not only did they murder Mr Brady, but they were both perfectly content to try and blame each other for it.

‘We hope Mr Brady’s family will take some closure from this and that justice has been done.’