Christopher Newton has been jailed for life pic: Met Police

A Tower Hamlets man has been jailed for life after kicking a 73-year-old great-grandmother to death.

Christopher Newton, 45, from Bow Road, was handed a life sentence at the Old Bailey today and ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years.

Newton was found guilty of kicking and stamping pensioner Eileen Jones to death at her sheltered accommodation in Mandela House, Bethnal Green in March 2011.Newton was visiting a partially sighted friend at Mandela House on the night of the attack. Mrs Jones entered the flat to give her friend an evening meal, and was invited in for a drink with the two men.

The meal was found untouched at the scene of the crime the following morning when police and an ambulance were called to the home.

Emergency services staff found Mrs Jones collapsed on the floor in a pool of blood. A post-mortem examination revealed blunt force trauma to the head and chest as the cause of death.

DCI John Sandlin from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command said: “Eileen Jones was a much-loved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She lived in a home surrounded by good friends in a place where she and her family felt she was safe and secure. Christopher Newton shattered many lives that night when he viciously attacked a totally defenceless pensioner.

“He then prolonged the agony for her family by denying any knowledge of the terrible incident and trying to pass the blame onto Eileen’s partially-sighted friend. To this day Newton has never fully explained why he turned on Eileen and what actually triggered his actions. Eileen’s family is left wondering how such a terrible thing could have happened and why it happened at all.”