Justice Denied

Dedicated to ANTONIETTA GUARINO

2009-12-05T01:20:00.005Z

I never thought that I would create a blog, after all what have I to say? My life changed in January 2009 and this is that story.

This blog is dedicated to the memory of ANTONIETTA GUARINO and serves the purpose to tell you and anybody that you feel should know the story of her murder and all the events that followed. In particular the justice denied to her during the recent trial of the men accused of her murder. People should know what happened, people are entitled to understand the short comings of the system and the cruel double blow that it has dealt my family. Please help me to make as many people aware of this sorry story by asking them to visit this site.

justice-denied@inbox.lv

Impact Statment

2009-12-04T23:19:00.004Z

This is a copy of the impact statement given and partly read by the Recorder of Bristol Judge Tom Crowther. Marc Riley refused to leave his cell to hear his sentence and therefore did not hear this statement. I hope that in reading this you can start to understand my story.

On the face of it writing an impact statement should be straightforward, I am to express in words the impact of a crime, which has affected my family and me. Then why have I struggled to even start this document?

I think that I understand the importance of this document, to enable professionals and others now or in the future to read and appreciate my perspective. I sincerely hope that what I write now stands the test of time, and has the same devastating impact in the future to those that read it as the memories of 2009 will have on my future and that of my children.

My difficulty in starting this is that I am not sure I can do justice to the enormous effect that this event has had, I can not be sure to find the words to express the depth of sadness I now live with following the planned deeds of two individuals unknown to me and their callous treatment of my mother’s life, taken for what? I hope that by telling you the reader some of my story, you could begin to understand the impact.

My mother was murdered on January the 8th 2009; I don’t know at this moment in time or may never know when her murder was planned. I believe from what I know it was discussed by her murderers while they were in bed together. My mother had taken a lodger some months before, by all accounts she liked him they watched films together, she spoke to him about her family, he even knew about my 11 year old sons illness which had put him in hospital. Mum had spent time with my son, while he received treatment sleeping next to him in hospital. During this time away from her home and against her clear wishes the lodger invited and spent nights together with his boyfriend. Late in 2008 one of mum’s friends lost a daughter to cancer, mum spent time comforting a grieving friend away from home, during this period her lodger again spent nights with his boyfriend, who knows what they planned? What they said? At Christmas and New Year which mum spent with my sisters family and my own, her home was used by these two individuals. I remember the constant calls from her lodger while she was with us, I thought it strange at the time, and I now know they were checking her whereabouts. So exactly when they decided that murder would be the answer to their situation I might never know and this will haunt me forever.

If the extent of the abuse had been this alone I would not be writing now. Shortly after mum returned home and upset their cosy little lives, she paid the ultimate price! Killed and for what? Maybe I will never know this too but it will always haunt me.

What I do know is that mum was murdered while in her own kitchen surrounded by photos on the walls of her family and the people she loved. She was hit on her head up to 12 times with a blunt instrument probably a hammer. I am assured that she probably died quickly but I don’t know for sure, I may never know, her potential suffering in this moment of her death will always torture me. What I do know is that her lifeless body was treated with unbelievable inhuman contempt. She was wrapped in her own bed clothes and her plastic shower curtain, bound with electrical cord from her garden tools, then bundled under cover of darkness into her small car. She was driven through the countryside, finally her killers tramping through farmers fields carried her body to the River Avon were she was indignantly thrown in, lost to the icy waters for over 40 days.

For almost 3 weeks after her murder, the guilty cowards continued to live in my mothers home - having seen her previous habits – they lied to visitors and people that telephoned asking after her. They claimed she was with her family in Surrey or that she was in Italy or that she was staying with an ill friend. Their lies bought them time to clean up the evidence of their crime. At no point up to their arrest, 21 days later, did they demonstrate any humanity toward my mother or her family, on the contrary they lived in her home, drained her bank account of all its funds and even opened online accounts to buy CD’s and DVD’s. They involved there friends in this crime asking for help to dispose of the murder weapon, giving mums car to other friends to dump outside a local scrap car dealers. I can’t and probably never will know how many people knew what these two individuals had done but no one came forward to report what they had heard. These other people choose like vultures to enjoyed the spoils of her death, her personal possessions, mobile phone, jewellery and money all found in residences across Trowbridge.

This squalid story still feels unbelievable to me, my mother was a kind woman full of life and happiness, she loved her children and grand children. Mum spent her working life as a nurse and carer, looking after the ill, and old. When she moved to Wiltshire she worked caring for patients who had mental illness and social problems. Mum was kind and believed in the fundamental goodness of others; I honestly cannot remember her saying nasty or bad things about anybody. She always tried to understand others and see things from there perspective. Mum moved to Trowbridge before either my sister or I was married, she made a life for herself in Wiltshire and had many friends and loved the county and its places of interest. She was happy in Trowbridge, she loved her home it was the depository of her life’s memories full of ornaments that she had collected, the walls covered with photos of her family in England, France and Italy.

Mum travelled to Surrey often to spend time with her grand children; it was so normal for her to arrive and within the hour on her way to the cinema with my son to see a film. On their return mum would spend time with my 4 year old daughter, playing make up and dolls. We ate together cooking food and spending good times. Recently mum discussed a possible return to Surrey; she was still young and wanted to spend more time with her grandchildren. Mum was a very affectionate person with so much love; she would always cuddle and hug her children and grandchildren. She was a lively, friendly and generous person; she was full of character and will always be missed.

Marc Riley and David Carr-Burstow’s actions, subsequent lies and lack of remorse have only served to harden my hatred for them and the things they did. I believe that their lack of morality has and will remain a danger to us all. They choose to murder somebody they knew and who trusted them, she was defenseless and at the mercy of two young adult men who’s twisted view of their own lives and sick ideas extinguished hers, the disgrace of their actions before, during and after her murder has poisoned my own future and that of my children, who have been denied the love of their grandmother.

In the short nine months since her murder I cannot escape the daily reminders that torment me, I regularly feel the emptiness and void that has been left by her unnecessary death and despair at the perverted circumstance she found her self in that night in January.

Some weeks ago my 4 year old daughter stood in the garden holding her drawings of Nonna up to the sky.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Showing Nonna my pictures, she’s in heaven.” the answer.

This is not the only time I have seen her do it.

ITV West 10 O' Clock News of the 1st of October 2009

2009-12-04T10:36:00.003Z

Why Justice Denied?

2009-12-03T01:26:00.003Z

Never in my life have I been as angry as I feel now, the last 9 months have left me tired and devastated at the needless and violent death that my mum suffered. But now I have had to endure the added indignity of a process of law which has let my family and I down in a way which massively compounds the original crime. I do not want sympathy, I will one day come to terms with the label of victim, one that I share with the families of over 800 other murdered people this year. It is my hope that people who read this, feel some of the anger and desperation at a system that has denied my mum even in her death; justice.

The trial of Marc Riley and David Carr Burstow started on September the 21st 2009 at Bristol Crown Court. Before the jury could be sworn in Marc Riley pleaded guilty to both charges of Murder and Obstructing the Coroner. I was in another area of the building when this happened and Riley was led away before I had the chance to hear his plea.

The prosecution continued the case against his boyfriend David Carr Burstow, he also pleaded guilty to the charge of Obstructing the Coroner but not guilty to Murder. On that basis the jury was sworn in and the trial began. Despite David Carr Burstow not guilty plea for murder and his subsequent acquittal by the jury which I will write about another time, I want to tell you about his guilty plea for Obstructing a Coroner. What does that mean and what did he admit to. It probably helps at this point to explain what Obstructing a Coroner means and at the risk of getting this technically wrong as I am not some fancy barrister in layman's terms it means stopping a coroner being able to do their duty in law by disposing of a body such as the coroner can not record the death. In short "Hiding or disposing of a murder victim" This will probably strike you as rather old fashioned and when I go on to tell you what in practice David Carr Burstow and for that matter Marc Riley went on to do with my mothers body and their actions between the night of the killing and their arrest some 18 days later you too may start to share my anger.

Before I tell you about these two low life's actions there are 2 points that I was going to write about at the end of this piece. I think that you ought to know now;

1. Why the Crown Prosecution Service choose to indict both Riley and Carr Burstow on Obstructing a Coroner.

2. The sentence that they both subsequently received.

This information is I believe is vital to know while reading about their crimes, not knowing this puts you the reader in the same position that the jury was in Bristol at the trial, unknown to the jury the possible penalty for the second indictment could have had a strong baring on the final decision to acquit, at the very least I would hope that it might have concentrated their minds while deliberating the verdict. And that they might have taken more than 5 hours to discuss the evidence and possible ramification of the decision.

Why did the CPS choose the indictment of Obstructing a Coroner? This crime has no pre determined sentencing guidelines. That means that the judge could have sentenced whatever he felt appropriate and proportionate. Some of you will know that many crimes including murder have sentencing guidelines which judges have to follow. For example murder has an automatic sentence of Life (The meaning of which is for another day) judges can not deviate from guidelines. So in short the crime of Obstructing a Coroner can carry any sentence.

What did Carr Burstow receive having admitted to this indictment? 4 years imprisonment.

What did Riley receive having admitted to this indictment? 6 years, additional to his Life sentence as an aggravating factor.

What did they do?

Soon after her brutal murder, mum's body was wrapped with her shower curtain and tied at both ends with flexible electrical cable the sort that you have on a garden mower or strimmer. Under cover of darkness her body was stuffed in to the back of her own car. I say stuffed because mums car was a Toyota Yaris and this is a small hatchback and she was by way of blood staining evidence in the rear footwell, I think stuffed is an appropriate verb.

Both Carr Burstow and Riley traveled some 8 to 10 miles to Bradford on Avon where they drove the car across a field. At the bottom of the field there is a metal gate the type that stops cattle passing, it swings in a arc within is own metal frame. They had to get out and carry mum the rest of the way to the rivers edge. This meant a 150 meter walk down a steep hill. At the rivers edge she was dumped in to the icy water. Her body snagged on reeds and floated, Riley striped and waded in to the water to push her down. Mum was lost in the River Avon for the next 47 days.

Carr Burstow and Riley went back to mum's house to start cleaning up the mess that the killing had created. She had received over 12 blows to her head with a hammer; this frenzied attack had left her kitchen a blood bath. They spent some time there I don't know how long but by 21:12 Riley had called friends in Trowbridge asking if he and Carr Burstow could visit. The reason to stop the clean up, well Riley was cold and dirty from his having been in the river and they both had by now worked up an appetite. Not long after arriving at the flat of their friends Stephen Gurner and Laura Elvin. Carr Burstow left with Stephen Gurner in mum's Toyota their destination McDonalds. Riley asked Laura Elvin if he could use their bath, that is after Carr Burstow had cleaned up an injury on the knuckles of his hand which was dripping with blood.

After Riley's bath he became impatient for his food (he was not to know that Carr Burstow and Gurner had not gone straight to get the food but stopped to discuss what had happened that night) Riley asked Laura to phone through an order to Dominos Pizza, clearly the events of that evening had done nothing to stem their appetites!

Carr Burstow and Gurner's conversation is for another post, this is about the actions that followed the murder. Either before of after the stop at the McDonalds the pair "ragged" the Toyota. The term ragged was explained very well by Laura Elvin during her evidence in court. 'Ragging is driving a car hard on the street, testing its limits' It seams that a little Top Gear test driving in a dead woman's car is a fun way to pass the evening for David Carr Burstow. During Carr Burstow's raggin' he managed to damage the front bumper, so attracting attention was not a concern while driving that night, clearly the relief of not having a body in the back had to be celebrated with some wheel-spinning. At the McDonalds drive-in Carr Burstow removed a plastic bag from the Toyata containing the hammer which only hours earlier was used to bludgeon my mother. He put the murder weapon in a bin, this act alone is so criminal as to be deserving of punishment enough, in disposing of the murder weapon inevitably vital evidence was lost forever. Over 20 days passed by the time police were able to close the land fill site where the bins from that evening were thought to be dumped, it was decided that to find this item would not be practical and almost impossible. They both returned to Gurner and Elvin's flat to eat burgers but as you know Riley has already ordered pizza, tired of waiting for the test drivers return. A takeaway dinner after a hard nights work!

The following morning at approximately 09:15 Carr Burstow called his step brother Reginald Potter in Norfolk again the nature of this (very important) conversation is for later, save to say he was interested in selling the Toyota Yaris to his step brother. Potter was interested but not without the relevant documents. Carr Burstow again called Potter later that day to say he could not find the documents. This is surprising as he and Riley managed to find the PIN codes to all of my mother’s bank cards and it took me moments to find the distinctive blue V5 amongst the pile of paper work that they had rifled through. Maybe they were so delighted that they had found the PIN numbers this distraction proved too strong. Carr Burstow asked Potter how he could scrap the Toyota, he advised that this would be hard without documents. This proved to be good advice because the following day when Carr Burstow took the car to a local scrap dealers claiming it had a dodgy engine, he was told that without documents they were not interested.

That same day Carr Burstow stole from mums house a television and using her car gave it to his friends Jack and Jacque. He also recruited help for his friends, Darren Lee Jackson and Jack Isaacs (who were convicted of Handling Stolen Goods in summer 2009) Jackson and Isaac again tried to take the Toyota to the scrap dealers, it was sold it for £75 and left it outside in the street. Riley and Carr Burstow then went on a spending spree, using mums cards they bought CD's and DVD's they ordered supermarket food for home delivery. One feature of their shopping lists was pizza it was a regular favorite, the irony of killing an Italian and enjoying Italian food didn't pass me by. Riley bought his boyfriend an XBox Elite games machine and spent £123.95 on a range of sex toys for a website called forafters.co.uk they including handcuffs gay porn and amyl nitrate liquid, commonly called Poppers. Their spending spree was boosted with regular visits to the Tesco and NatWest cash machines in Trowbridge. NatWest were not exactly quick to pick up on the unusual spending patterns, in reality they never did, it was the police that let them know that over £3000 had been stolen from under their noses. Together they withdrew a maximum allowance of £250 each day for 15 consecutive days. They stripped mums bedroom of jewelry and other small valuables, some of these items were found at 4 different addresses in Trowbridge (all friends of Carr Burstow and Riley) during the investigation. They did all this while continuing to live at my mothers house as if nothing had happened.

But something had happened and Riley fended off inquiries from relatives and friends during those eighteen days, he had paid close attention to mums habits and used these to lie to all who enquired after her, even Carr Burstow got in on the act telling mums neighbors that she was looking after her sick grandson or in Italy. They didn't think to say the same story to everybody, they probably never thought that mums friends and family would cross check and pursue her whereabouts.

During those eighteen days it was noticed by friends and associates of Carr Burstow and Riley that they were spending more that usual, buying takeaway pizza's to share with their friends, they were never short of cigarettes or dope. They invited friends to come to the house to take some of the antiques, well antiques as they saw them. My mum didn't have antiques nor was she a wealthy woman but to these men she must have looked well off, not a surprising view from an ex-drug user and his homeless boyfriend, who lived off £85 per week disability allowance due to his Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. At no time after her murder did they attempt to leave her home, the pickings were too good! One of their final purchases was a red Ford Fiesta which Carr Burstow bought for £350 on January the 25th just two days before their arrest.

This was the basic evidence given at the trial which tells of the abuse of my mums body, property and money, you can make up you own mind if by admitting to these crimes the sentence of 4 years reduced to 2 years in custody is an appropriate and proportionate punishment for Carr Burstow? He has served over 241 days on remand and will therefore only be in a Youth Offender Institution for a further 15 months and by February 2011 Carr Burstow will be free. The prison service will have no time to rehabilitate him, I predict that he will go on to commit further criminal acts. I hope that I won’t be interviewed some time in the future to say that ''They missed their chance at Bristol Crown Court in 2009.'' but somehow I think I will. As for Riley his actions were considered aggravating and therefore added 6 years to his starting tariff of 15 years, big deal!

The day after this trial ended in Bristol at Leicester Crown Court, 21 year old Sheffield United footballer Jordan Robertson was jailed for 32 months after causing a fatal crash because he was trying to change songs on his iPod.................

Vultures

2009-12-03T01:24:00.000Z

From an early point in the police's investigation it became clear that Riley and Carr Burstow had many friends in Trowbridge, they mostly shared in common a link. They had met at a charity in the town for homeless young adults, The Amber Foundation. It offered young people a safe place to stay whilst trying to give them the skills to find work so that they could support themselves.

I don't know the full details of how Riley a local man found himself homeless after-all his mother and brother lived only a few miles from Trowbridge in Bradford on Avon. During the case one witness eluded to the fact that he was not welcome at the family home due to his constant fallings out with other family members.

Carr Burstow on the other hand was from Harleston, Norfolk. His father died when he was 6 months old or 2 years (there seemed some disagreement between him and his mother) anyway he lived there until he was seventeen. I don't know why he left Norfolk to move to Wiltshire, but I got the firm impression it was because he too was no longer welcome at home or in the community. He had already been arrested numerous times, something we were to learn about later in the trial. Carr Burstow went to live with his step sister in Wiltshire. Soon she and her husband decided because of overcrowding in their home; they had five children of there own, that he could no longer stay. Carr Burstow moved to the Amber Foundation.

Here the two men met and became homosexual partners, it was also here that they met and became friends with Stephen Gurner, Laura Elvin, Darren Lee Jackson, Jack Isaacs and Daniel Faulkener. A community of drug users who went on to help Riley and Carr Burstow, and this is where my difficulty lays. These individuals probably knew what Riley and Carr Burstow had done and they choose to say nothing.

It's is hard enough to comes to terms with the murder of my mum but it is compounded by the knowledge that during the investigation many people played a part however small in this crime, this was not a crime done in secret, the profits was spread about. A television, jewelry, clocks all found across town, all at the addresses of Riley and Carr Burstow's friends. Meals eaten, drugs bought, alcohol consumed all with the gains from mums murder. Fun together on a games console bought with mum's money, cigarettes and pizzas, good times for all!

Steven Gurner had the biggest role in this, he had the flat at 30 Orchard Court the place Carr Burstow and Riley visited almost on a daily basis and it was he who went out with Carr Burstow on the night of the 8th of January. That night Carr Burstow told Gurner that "They had killed the landlady." and that "Marc had hit her on the head and they had dumped her in the river.” A drug fueled Gurner choose to believe that Carr Burstow was ‘pulling his leg’ and carry on as if nothing had been said for the next three weeks. We are also to believe that he never told his girlfriend Laura Elvin during this time? Elvin who on more that two occasions used my mothers credit card to order pizza, saying she believed Riley's story that the cards with the name Guarino on was Riley's mothers. I don't believe people were ignorant of what had happened at best they buried the heads in the sand and it makes me sick that they did nothing to bring this crime to anybody's attention. I believe that like vultures feeding on the kill of others, they enjoyed the pickings of my mothers death too much to even ask.

Gurner after spending four days in custody finally told the police what he knew, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that in order to secure a conviction he would not be prosecuted for aiding but convinced him that he should give evidence of the night of the 8th of January, the night that Carr Burstow confessed the killing to him. It was in the public interest and for the good of justice that the murderers be convicted not the profiteers. Likewise Jackson and Isaacs who had sold mums Toyota and were convicted of handling stolen goods, again the CPS decided that the charge should be simple 'Handling' and no attempt was made to discover if these two knew of the origin of the Toyota less what they said could endanger the case against Riley and Carr Burstow. It seems to me that all involved escaped punishment or received light sentences in order that the prosecution of Riley and Carr Burstow should not be jeopardised.

You may recall that Carr Burstow bought a red Ford Fiesta, this was the car that he was sat in when arrested on the 27th of January and had been in a police compound ever since. Just before the verdicts were read out on the 1st of October the final vulture swooped down to try and feed, it was Carr Burstow's stepfather who asked one of the policemen at the court if he could have the Fiesta to drive back to Norfolk in as it was in David’s name. What a douchbag! What kind of world do they or should I say we live in?

He was told that the car was evidence and at any-rate the proceeds of a crime not his to do as he pleases.

The 8th of January according to Marc Riley under caution at Melksham Police Station 27th - 30th January 2009

2009-12-02T00:58:00.002Z

Marc Riley was arrested on suspicion of murder on 27^th of January 2009 at about 14:00 this was 2 days after my sister had called Trowbridge police station and the investigation in to a missing person was set up. He was taken to Melksham police station in Wiltshire and questioned. Over the next 3 days he gave this abbreviated account of what had happened at my mothers house some 20 days previous.

He had been lodging at my mothers house since October 2008, where he rented the upstairs room for £300 per month. He viewed the room one morning in October and that afternoon with his mothers help, moved in.

He told the police how he had got back together with his boyfriend David Carr Burstow late in 2008 and how he had invited him to stay in his room. I don’t know if he told the police whether my mum knew about his boyfriend staying but it soon became evident to the interviewers that she had made it abundantly clear that under no circumstances was he to have friends staying in his room. He had invited his boyfriend to stay without her knowledge.

On the 3^rd of January mum returned from Surrey after spending Christmas with us, Riley and Carr Burstow were both at her home in Trowbridge when she arrived. They had enjoyed the Christmas and New Year period at her home now mums arrival had disturbed their cosy little lives together. From the moment she arrived Carr Burstow was locked in Riley’s upstairs room unable to use the bathroom, or any other facilities that he had become used to. Riley had become his feeder and guardian protecting him from discovery. Once again I don’t know if he told the police about how his boyfriend got in and out of the house, but it became apparent that when mum was at home and possibly up and about, he climbed in through the window accessing it by climbing up on to the flat garage roof. Riley of course came and went by a more traditional route, the front door.

Five days of cat and mouse went on until some time in the late afternoon of the 8^th of January according to Riley he went downstairs to the garage where his fridge was kept. According to his interview with the police, he was walking from the garage where he had gone to get food through the utility area toward the kitchen, when the lights flickered on and off at which point he saw a shadowy figure in the darkness. In fear, he reached out grabbed a nearby hammer and lashed out once.

When he realised that he had hit Antonietta and she was dead he panicked and collapsed in distress, at which point he called his boyfriend from the upstairs bedroom. Carr Burstow’s cabin fever had come to an end. Together they wrapped the body and decided to dump her in the river. Marc Riley cannot drive so it was fortunate for him that David Carr Burstow was there to help him! During further questioning Riley went on to describe the exact place and circumstance of their disposal of mums body.

QUESTIONS:

If Riley was trying to minimise the killing, trying to create a story in which mums death was an accident, why did he tell the police where to find her? He must have known that when they found her body, her injuries would prove his story was false. Mum as you know suffered a sustained attack with a minimum of 12 blunt force impact blows any one of which were described as un-survivable.

Did Riley really know the extent of her injury’s?

Was Riley protecting his lover, taking the fall with his false story?

Riley confessed to killing mum with A BLOW from a hammer. Then who inflicted the other blows?

While in custody Riley wrote more than once to his lover, I don’t know the contents of those letters but they were intercepted by the police and I have been told they make very interesting reading displaying a great deal about the nature of the relationship between these homosexual lovers. I am not alone in not knowing the contents of these letters they were deemed prejudicial and therefore not uses as evidence at the trial.

The 8th of January according to David Carr Burstow interviewed under caution at Melksham Police Station 27th - 30th January 2009

2009-12-01T00:12:00.004Z

David Carr Burstow was arrested at about 14:00 on Tuesday the 27th January 2009. He was cautioned while sitting in the red Ford Fiesta that he had bought only 2 days before. At the time he was outside the police station in Trowbridge waiting in the car while Riley had gone inside to offer the police his help in the missing persons enquiry that had been set up. Unknown to both of them Wiltshire police had been busy examining CCTV images which showed the pair withdrawing money on numerous occasions from my mothers account at various cash machines across Trowbridge over the previous 20 days. This was enough evidence to arrest them both on suspicion of murder; a charge that would allow the police the maximum time to interview the suspects, although at this time the enquiry was still a missing persons one.

Carr Burstow was taken to Melksham police station for formal interview. Over the next 96 hours whilst in custody he was interviewed several times, these interviews when transcribed amounted to over 600 pages, this was distilled down to 60 pages to be used in court later. In turn I will try and write a short synopsis of his statements.

Carr Burstow’s statements were peppered with lies from the very start, he admitted to this while under caution and later on at his trial. This together with his constant “I can’t remember ‘cos I have ADHD* and stuff.” and his general non-cooperation made him a very difficult suspect. The basis of his statements were, “I don’t remember,' I didn’t do it,' Marc told me to,' Marc made me do it,' 'I was afraid of Marc.' Marc, Marc, Marc...

At first he told the interviewer that he had been a welcome guest in mum’s house, he described how in the early afternoon of January the 8th he had returned from shopping in Trowbridge to her home. He said that he had gone straight up to his room but had said hello to Antonietta who was in the living room. This, he said, was the extent of his conversation on that occasion. He went on to say that all his previous conversations with mum had been of a simalar superficial nature, all in passing and quick hello's and goodbyes. He said the Riley was also in the house that afternoon but he remained downstairs, Carr Burstow guessed when asked “that he was cleaning or something”. Over the next 3 hours or so he watched music TV upstairs in Riley’s room. At some point later he was called downstairs by Riley, he said that he went down to the kitchen where he saw Antonietta's body on the kitchen floor. There was blood all around and her head was part covered by a cloth, all he could see were her lips, Riley told him to “Fucking help,” he went to get the shower curtain and helped Riley then wrap her body. He claimed that throughout he was feeling sick “it was the smell and that.” and therefore could not remember the precise details of what happened. When asked about the hammer he said “I saw it on the side.” When questioned if he asked Riley why he had done it, his answer was “No” he went on to explain how he and Riley disposed of the body and continued the clean up operation. Although he said that he did not take as active a role in the clean up as the smell disturbed him too much.

During the subsequent interviews is became clear that Carr Burstow was lying about his relationship with my mother, he had never spoken to her on that day in fact he only used the front door when it was late and mum was in bed. Other than that he came and went by the bedroom window, asked why, well Marc told him too. Asked if he was lodging without the landlady consent? Not as far as he knew, Marc has asked her and she said that it was OK as long as they kept the noise down.

His first backtracking lies had begun. Carr Burstow said what seemed right or best for him at the time. He was asked about the injuries to the knuckles on his hand, these were some days old at the time of his arrest. Carr Burstow explained that he and Riley had argued and he had punched a door, the shattered wood had cut the knuckles. This door is immediately outside the bedroom door that Marc Riley was renting, upstairs in Antonietta's home. The argument was over sex toys, Carr Burstow wanted to use them, and Riley would not let him. Asked again about the time immediately after he came downstairs, why did he not call for help when he saw what had happened, well he “didn’t want to get in to any trouble.” and “you don’t grass up friends.” Again asked if he had discussed with Riley why he had killed his landlady he said “No.” not then, not that night and not in the 3 weeks after.

You could reasonably ask yourself why did he not ask? I believe I know the reason: because he knew exactly why she was dead , so why ask?

When next interviewed the police told Carr Burstow that Marc Riley had confessed to the killing. The interview was short Carr Burstow’s answers were all ‘No Comment’

In his next interviews the story of what happened after the murder, the visit to Gurner and Elvin’s flat that night, the disposal of the hammer, the attempted scrapping of the Yaris and well you know the rest.

In Short he claimed that he was upstairs in the bedroom when all of a sudden he was called downstairs to be greeted with his boyfriend who had just bludgeoned to death his 61 year old landlady in her own kitchen, he did not know why and never choose to ask but what he did immediately after probably explains more about his role than the 600 pages of police interviews/lies.

*Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Carr Burstow at the River Avon on the 1st of February 2009

2009-11-30T23:07:00.000Z

At about 11:30 on Saturday the 31^st of January 2009 both Marc Riley and David Carr Burstow were charged with murder at Chippenham magistrate’s court and they were both remanded in custody. Later on Monday the 2^nd of February Marc Riley would go to HMP Bristol and in the case of David Carr Burstow the Youth Offending Institute attached to HMP Gloucester, there they remained until the trial at Bristol Crown Court in September 2009.

During the trial at Bristol Crown Court the prosecution called Steve Fulcher as a witness, Steve Fulcher is the Senior Investigating Officer in charge of operation Mews, the investigation into my mother's murder. This request was contested by the defence; I write this because it offers a clear example of how upside down the law can be. It is enshrined in law that a defendant can not be questioned after he/she has been charged. On this basis Carr Burstow’s defence tried to stop Steve Fulcher taking the witness stand and giving what can only be described as very important and insightful evidence.

On Sunday the 1^st of February after both defendants had been charged Steve Fulcher asked David Carr Burstow if he would accompany him to what was know as the deposition site, this is the spot on the River Avon that Marc Riley had claimed that he and Carr Burstow had disposed of my mother body on the night of the 8^th of January. It was in the public interest that the site be confirmed by the second defendant and that Steve Fulcher could get as much information as possible about were mum's body had been put and what she was wearing, how she was wrapped etcetera so that police divers should be successful in the such that was about to begin. The reason for Carr Burstow’s voluntary accompaniment to the river was not disputed by his defence; it was the nature of the conversation between the two that was questioned.

During the walk down to the river bank and at the rivers edge Steve Fulcher asked Carr Burstow questions as to what Antonietta was wearing, how she had been wrapped and other questions that would help the divers, Carr Burstow while describing how she was wrapped with a shower curtain and bound with electrical flex offered the unsolicited comment “When I saw her, she was twitching; I grabbed the shower curtain and wrapped her in it.” Fulcher did not press Carr Burstow on this, that would constitute an interview.

“When I saw her, she was twitching.” well you can understand why his defence would seek to remove this piece of evidence using the cheep excuse that the police are not allowed to interview after charge. The interest of the defence is not the truth, but their client and if that means hiding the truth behind safeguards that exist for other eventualities so be it. Before Steve Fulcher could take the witness stand the whole issue was heard by Judge Tom Crowther QC without the jury present. He agreed with the prosecution that Carr Burstow’s unsolicited comment did not amount to an interview after charge, it had been made during a legitimate trip to confirm the deposition site and the fact that Fulcher had not pressed the defendant on his statement proved it so.

“When I saw her, she was twitching.” was heard by the jury. David Carr Burstow was in the kitchen when my mum lay dead or dying, he was not upstairs and then came down to be met with an already dead landlady. In short David Carr Burstow was at the very heart of this crime before, during and after the events of January the 8^th 2009.

The 8th of January according to David Carr Burstow at Bristol Crown Court.

2009-11-04T10:44:00.034Z

On the stand questioned by the defence.

When David Carr Burstow took the stand at Bristol Crown Court he was first questioned by Jane Miller his defending QC, the direction of her questioning was to ask Carr Burstow to recount the events of the 8th of January. Throughout the questioning of her client she consistently referred to Marc Riley. Her references were always to lay the blame for what happened firmly at Riley’s feet and to distance her client as much as possible. It was in essence a parade of questions to which the answer were…… 'Marc did it,' 'Marc made me,' 'It was Marc’s idea,' 'I was afraid of Marc.' Jane Miller also spent some time asking Carr Burstow of his past, his behavioral problems and in particular his ADHD and the effect this had on him. David Carr Burstow was described as having the intelligence of a 12 – 13 year old and being in the bottom 5% of the adult population in intelligence.

After Carr Burstow’s own brother had told the court that he had confessed to his involvement in the murder and Stephen Gurner had done the same Jane Miller was forced to examine in-depth the relationship between her client and Riley. It was the defense that needed to try and get across that Carr Burstow was afraid of his boyfriend and to this end made representation to the judge that Riley’s previous record be read out, the prosecution only agreed to this on the basis that Carr Burstow’s own relevant previous convictions were disclosed.

I should say at this point the disclosure of these previous Police cautions and convictions were dealt with prior to Carr Burstow taking the stand and went something like this:

Riley was cautioned by Police twice, both times he had lost his temper when he had perceived Carr Burstow’s actions with another woman as flirtatious and in a jealous fit had on one occasion forcibly pushed an unbroken pint glass into Carr Burstow’s chest, this happened in front of the woman in question and Carr Burstow own brother in a pub while the pair were in Norfolk together. On a second occasion at a fair ground in Wiltshire again in a fit of jealousy Riley had punched Carr Burstow in the face after he believed that he had been flirting with a girl they both knew, Riley subsequently went on to make a public scene by shouting and inviting Carr Burstow to slap him in the face back. On this second occasion it was Carr Burstow himself who reported the incident to the police. On both occasions Riley was cautioned by police. On the other hand David Carr Burstow (who was only 19) had been arrested numerous times and the jury got to hear only of his 4 CONVICTIONS that were relevant to this case. Carr Burstow had been convicted twice of Assault and Battery. Once he was fighting in the streets in Norfolk and then on a different occasion lost his temper and punched a fellow student at Lowestoft College. He was also convicted of Affray and most lately was convicted of carrying an 8 inch bayonet on the street in Wiltshire. He was convicted for all these charges and not simply CAUTIONED.

Clearly his defense team felt that it was necessary to prove that there were grounds for Carr Burstow to be frightened of Marc Riley and that the sacrifice of the jury finding out about his own past convictions was a necessary risk. The fact that Riley had never been convicted previously and that his cautions were due to him being jealous and insecure of their gay relationship and that Carr Burstow own previous arrest and convictions were related to his own violence toward (I don’t know what the other 10+ arrests were for, one can assume they did not involve violence) should give some insight to their characters or at least you would have thought so.

Carr Burstow explained that on January the 8th he was upstairs with Riley and had had an argument with him about whether to go out or not.

He said "I was upstairs with Marc. I said to him, joking around, go and give the landlady a slap."

Jane Miller pressed home the point that he was only joking.

He said when he told Mark Riley to slap the landlady, Riley smirked and smiled and then went downstairs. Carr Burstow described how later on Riley had called him from downstairs and that when he [Carr Burstow] went into the kitchen he found mum dead and wrapped in a shower curtain lying on the kitchen floor, there was a hammer on the side. He then went on to describe the disposal of her body.

The defense’s questions surrounding the events following the murder were not concerned so much with what happened but with the state of mind of their client and his relationship with Riley. The general impression was Carr Burstow was influenced completely by Riley and lived in constant fear of his boyfriend as to the consequences of his non cooperation in the clean up/cover up. For example Jane Miller QC asked many times who withdrew the money at the cashpoint, who retained the money, who ordered the pizzas and food, who ordered the DVD’s and sex toys, the answered was always Marc.

For me throughout this line of questioning I remembered very clearly the testimony of Laura Elvin (Stephen Gurner's girlfriend and friend of both Riley and Carr Burstow) some days earlier, she said that

"What ever David wanted, Marc got him."

Carr Burstow said himself said that he ‘spent money like water’ and therefore Marc kept the money, but when he was arrested there was over £400 in cash and my mothers debit card in his jacket pocket.

Ultimately the defense’s questions were designed to portray their client as the simpleton that was not in control of events and who went along with the deception because of fear.

The 8th of January according to David Carr Burstow at Bristol Crown Court.

2009-11-04T10:39:00.017Z

On the stand questioned by the prosicution

Following the defenses questioning it was the turn of the prosecution to cross examine David Carr Burstow, Martin Meeke QC questioned inconsistencies in Carr Burstow's accounts of the events surrounding the murder. Martin Meeke started by asking Carr Burstow of his living arrangements and why he had been living at mum’s house without permission. Carr Burstow said that he was not aware that he was and that he had permission to be there, Marc had asked and the landlady had said it was okay so long as they kept the noise down.

"As soon as Mrs Guarino went to her family for Christmas you moved in, didn't you?" he said.

Carr Burstow said: "Marc said it was OK."

"Then why didn't you move in before she left?" Mr Meeke asked. (Carr Burstow had no place permanent to sleep even before Christmas.)

"I don't know," said Carr Burstow.

Mr Meeke asked why then, when Mrs Guarino returned on January 3, had he then started to enter the house through the window.

Carr Burstow replied “Marc told him to.”

Martin Meeke QC accused Carr Burstow of persistently lying to the police adding that he knew he wasn’t living with Marc Riley with Mrs Guarino’s permission and that is why he had resorted to sneaking in to the house by climbing onto the garage roof and through the bedroom window, he went on to remind him that he was on oath in court.

What did he do on the January the 8th? Carr Burstow said that he had been in town and returned to watch music TV upstairs in Riley's room. What had happened to his hand? Carr Burstow described an argument he had with Riley and how it was about sex toys. Carr Burstow admitted that he wanted sex and that Riley didn’t and how in anger he had punched the upstairs door then he had gone downstairs to clean the injury to his hand. He was asked about the damage to the downstairs bathroom door and he explained how Riley had been trying to get in to the bathroom speak with him. Evidence showed this door and frame were both cracked consistent with substantial force. When asked if this happened on the 8th of January? Carr Burstow could not remember. Laura Elvin and Stephen Gurner did though; they remember him at their flat later that evening dressing his injured hand.

"I suggest there's nothing very much wrong with your memory Mr Carr Burstow except when it suits you and that you pretend you can't remember," Mr Meeke said.

Prosecutor Martin Meeke QC questioned what he had meant by that comment to his defense barrister Jane Miller QC when he told Riley to "go and give the landlady a slap."

"I only meant it as a joke.” He said as he stood smirking in the dock.

Mr Meeke asked him what was funny. There was no answer.

"What had Mrs Guarino done to deserve a slap?" there was still no answer.

Martin Meeke went on to ask about the further inconsistencies in Carr Burstow’s interviews with the police. He asked Carr Burstow why he said that he was upstairs when Marc called him, and that when he went in to the kitchen Mrs Guarino was laying on the floor wrapped in a shower curtain, then subsequently at the river he told Steve Fulcher that he came in to the kitchen to see her twitching and got the shower curtain himself and wrapped her body. Carr Burstow mumbled that in fact it was he who wrapped the body and it was the usual ‘Marc told him to do it.’

When he came downstairs to see Mrs Guarino in a pool of blood did he ask why or what had Marc Riley done?

"I was shocked. I didn't know what had happened," Carr Burstow said.

"I never asked him that at all."

Why did you not call for an ambulance when you saw her twitching, she was possibly still alive and badly injured? “I didn’t want to get in any trouble.” and “you don’t grass up a mate.” He answered.

In fact David Carr Burstow said that he never asked why Marc Riley had murdered my mother in the eighteen days up to their arrests. Martin Meeke QC suggested it was because he either already knew the answer and it was because he had asked him to kill her, or he had helped him to do it. Carr Burstow denied this.

He was asked about events after the murder, the wrapping of the body, the trip to the river, the return to the house and the initial clean up, which of course Carr Burstow did but only under duress from Marc Riley. He made constant reference to how ill he felt because of “the smell and that.” but Riley told him to “Fucking help clean up.” any detailed questions were met with an “I can’t remember.” or “I was in the hall smoking, I was feeling sick ‘cos of the smell in the kitchen.” Just about any answer except one that could help determine what actually happened.

Martin Meeke asked Carr Burstow why, when he had been sick upon first seeing Mrs Guarino's body as he said in evidence, he then managed to carry the body to her car and across fields to dump it in the river.

He said: "You weren't so upset that you didn't feel like a pint at 11pm? How about by the time you got to MacDonald's? Had you recovered by then?"

Carr Burstow just replied "No."

Mr Meeke questioned whether Carr Burstow really was scared of Riley, as he told the court when questioned by his defense team. He asked why, when on two occasions previously Riley had assaulted Carr Burstow, he had made a statement to the police resulting in Riley’s cautions. You were happy to “Grass him up to the police then.”

“I suggest you weren’t really scared of Riley were you?” Not for the first time Carr Burstow sarcastically answered: “if you like.” to the question.

A challenge to which Martin Meeke replied it’s not me you have to convince it’s the jury.

David Carr Burstow denied telling Stephen Gurner that he and Riley had killed my mother, Gurner had got his testimony wrong and he denied telling his brother that he had got into a fight with a man and hit him over the head with a hammer. Reginald Potter had also got his testimony wrong. Carr Burstow remembered what suited him and forgot everything else, he either answered ‘no that’s not what happened’ or mumbled an almost inaudible reply. He was constantly reminded that he should speak up, but mostly there was a parade of the usual ‘Marc did it’, ‘Marc told me to do it’, ‘I was frightened of Marc’, Marc, Marc, Marc……… but as you know David Carr Burstow went on to enjoy the proceeds of that night, he didn’t leave Riley, together they plotted and planned the clean up, theft and disposal of mums property all while living in her house as if nothing had happened.

In order that I could have some small amount of peace in the nine months leading up to the trial I had created a picture in my mind of what happened that night. I hoped that maybe mum was in her kitchen making a cup of tea and that she was assaulted from behind, one blow and a quick death. As unpleasant as this scenario was it gave me some comfort that mum had died unknowingly and by surprise. I did not fully believe this imagined death and I was aware that it could have been very different; the small comfort I had created was removed when the prosecution finally put to David Carr Burstow their version of events that night in my mothers home.

Riley and Carr Burstow had been together upstairs in Riley’s bedroom, Carr Burstow wanted to go out, cabin fever has set in, he had been locked in this room for some time but climbing out of window in broad daylight was not a good idea. Riley didn’t want to go out and an argument started over something, going out, sex or sex toys. During this argument Carr Burstow lost his temper and rather that hitting Riley he punched the door. His punch was of such force that he punched through the wood that clad the face of the door and the sharp shards cut his hand. He went downstairs and locked himself into the bathroom opposite my mother’s bedroom to clean his wound. Riley tried to gain entry to the bathroom either to apologise or continue fighting; he punched and forced the door until it also broke.

My mother had been in bed that day feeling ill, she had spoken to my wife at 13:30 and her last conversation was with a friend at 13:50. When she was finally recovered from the River Avon she was dressed in day clothes, not bed clothes. On hearing this disturbance outside her own bedroom door she probably got dressed and was confronted by the fighting lovers. Who knows what the atmosphere was at this moment, mum probably told them to leave her house. Carr Burstow told police of his conversation with Riley upstairs and how while packing his bag he told Riley to "go and give the landlady a slap." The prosecution said that he had gone upstairs put his bag on to the bed and started packing because he had been told to by Mrs Guarino.

“No that’s not right.” he said

That you didn’t pack your bag? No, he went on to say that the bag was not on the bed it was on the floor, his comment was almost petulant. He was not packing because he had been given his marching orders but because he had decided to leave his lover. Break up with him.

The prosecution suggested that all this was and inconvenience to him and contrary to his statement "go and give the landlady a slap." He told Riley to “go downstairs and hit the landlady over the head with a hammer.” These are the words that Carr Burstow himself confessed to Stephen Gurner later that evening in the pub car park prior to disposing of the hammer used to kill her.

My mum died in a charged atmosphere, one in which she had discovered that the man who lodged in her home had gone directly against her wishes and moved his lover in to his room and her home. There had been and violent argument between the two of them, one in which her property had been damaged and one that was so intense that the pair did not care if she heard. This argument eventually proved to be the catalysts that led to her own violent death. The details of what happened in her kitchen will never be known to me, there were 3 people in that house on January the 8th 2009, one is now dead, and the other 2 remain tight lipped as to the details. As you know Marc Riley confessed to KILLING mum, he did not confess to MURDERING her. He claimed that he hit her once and then realizing his mistake together with his lover disposed of her body. On the first day of the trial he changed his plea to guilty and thus left Bristol Crown Court without saying or being questioned as to the exact details of that night. All Carr Burstow had to do was say it wasn’t me, I was upstairs when it happened.

The burning question is why did he behave the way he did following the murder? It’s rather convenient to believe he was frightened, led by Riley or believed that you shouldn’t grass up a mate. What he admitted and therefore we know is:

Carr Burstow was in the kitchen when my mum lay dead or dying, he said he saw her twitching, he was not upstairs but at the very heart of the crime scene when it was committed, he was practically there with one foot in the killing room.

Carr Burstow retrieved the shower curtain and wrapped the body.

Carr Burstow retrieved the electrical flex from the garden shed and in doing so spilt mums blood on a small metal stool in the shed, so he had her blood on him.

Carr Burstow drove the car to the river and in doing so created the circumstances that caused my family and me the enormous additional suffering of a missing body. Twenty eight sleepless nights despairing if her body would ever be found. Together with nightmares of my mother floating in the icy river, all as a direct consequence of his actions.

Carr Burstow helped carry and dispose of her body in the river.

Carr Burstow threw the hammer in to the bin at the drive-in McDonalds in Trowbridge but not before stopping in the car park of a pub to confess to his friend Stephen Gurner that: "He [Carr Burstow] and Marc had killed their landlady."

Gurner testified: "I remember him saying that he and Marc had had an argument and he was joking around and said to Marc 'go downstairs and hit the landlady over the head with a hammer' and Marc did it." And that "He [Carr Burstow] said to do it if he loved him.” Adding “That is if Marc loved Dave.”

Carr Burstow ‘ragged’ mums Toyota Yaris damaging it on the night of her murder and it was he who the very next morning called his brother, Reginald Potter in Norfolk, asking if he would be interested in having the car and failing that how to scrap it. It was during this conversation that David Carr Burstow told his brother: “I got in a fight last night with a bloke and I hit him on the head with a hammer and threw him in the river.”

After failing to find the V5 document in order to dispose of the Toyota , Carr Burstow arranged with Darren Lee Jackson and Jack Isaacs to dump of mum’s car at Shanley’s scrap yard in Trowbridge.

Carr Burstow enjoyed all the proceeds of this crime together with Riley and right up to the moment of his arrest was even sitting in the red Ford Fiesta and using his mobile phone that they had bought with her money.

Are these the actions of a simpleton that was not in control of events and who went along with the deception because of fear? And of course ‘you don’t grass up your mates’ except when he slaps you in the face at the fairground. What Carr Burstow lacks in intelligence he more that makes up for with slyness and deceitfulness. There are so many other things that David Carr Burstow was responsible for but in the words of his defence council Jane Miller QC “although what my client did was thoroughly wicked he is not a murderer.” The jury took five hour’s to agree.

BBC Television News

2009-10-15T13:23:00.001+01:00

Television News reports before and after the verdicts passed on Marc Riley and David Carr Burstow following the events surrounding the murder of Antonietta Guarino in Trowbridge, Wiltshire on January the 8th 2009.

ITV West 6 O' Clock News of the 1st of October 2009

2009-10-10T22:00:00.000+01:00

Punishment or should I say criminal punishment.

2009-10-10T01:18:00.008+01:00

What is criminal punishment in a civilised society? Plenty of academics, criminologists, and theologians have written about this. Plenty of politicians, newspaper editors and radio talk shows have commented on it. We talk about it a lot but how often are we satisfied that the punishment fits the crime? Is it that the media only publicises and complains over the few poor sentences, do we only selectively hear the weak sentences passed because they outrage us? Is it that the system on the whole passes satisfactory sentences? Up until now I was never sure if the general dissatisfaction I felt and believed existing amongst people was simply misinformation, unbalanced media reporting, or just pub talk and canteen conversations. I am not in a position to answer these questions they are questions for others to answer; I can only express my opinion based on my experience.

I now believe that weak punishment is a true stereotype, one based on the outcome of hundreds of inadequate sentences passed up and down the county, and now I have my own to add.

My view is that criminal punishment is about four things:

Retribution. It is imperative that the state passes sentences of pure imprisonment and punishment that satisfies both the victim and society or the state loses its legitimacy to act on our behalf. In so-called uncivilised societies retribution comes in the form of vendettas, blood feuds, street justice and vigilantism. If unjust retribution is the norm then we cannot be surprised when people take justice into there own hands.

Criminal should spend a proportionate time in prison simply as punishment for their crime.

Deterrence. Sentences should act as an adequate deterrent to both the sentenced criminal re-offending and to others, it should be clear to would be criminals that strong punishment for their acts will be passed, this may deter some and some is better than none. Surly it is true that the deterrent of imprisonment acts along side morality for most of us against committing some crimes?

Weak sentencing equals weak deterrence and only serves to demonstrate that ‘even if you are caught and convicted you won’t suffer’ and ‘it’s worth the risk’.

Protection. Sentences should protect the public from individuals who harm us by removing them from circulation and not allowing them to commit further acts by denying them their freedom. This element is only of use if the last point is completed.

Rehabilitation. Given that with the exception of the ‘Whole life tariff’ (rarely passed and only for the most serious crimes) all convicted criminals will eventually be paroled and released. It is surely imperative that the prison system (state) rehabilitates the criminals that go through it. If this does not happen then re-offending rates will surly be high. However rehabilitation can only happen if a decent period of imprisonment is served satisfying both victims and society and during which the prisoner can understand the impact of their crime and that they reject that behaviour which risks imprisonment and a loss to their freedom again.

Inadequate sentencing leaves no time for the prison service to finalise possibly the most important part of their job, stopping re-offending. It lets down society putting us all at further risk of re-offending because the criminal has not understood the damage he has done. Furthermore the criminal with a previous record who has committed crimes time and time again particularly insults us all.

Again I don’t know if what I write is academically correct or if on the whole our systems works. What I do want is to speak to anybody who believes that the sentence passed on David Carr Burstow on the 1st of October 2009 in court room number 2 of Bristol Crown Court in any way addresses the above points let alone satisfies my desire for justice and is proportionate to the crimes he has committed. I don’t believe now that I will every meet that person, maybe I will meet a legal professional who explains that his sentence is similar to others in the past, well so what that’s just another legal technicality.

Surely not only justice be done; it must also be seen to be done?

Letter to Wiltshire Police

2009-10-09T18:38:00.000+01:00

This is a copy of the letter that I sent to Wiltshire Police the night before the verdict, I wrote this before the verdict as I wanted to reflect my feeling regardless of the out come. Over a week has passed and I still feel the same respect and gratitude for Wiltshire Constabulary. Below the letter is Mr Brian Moore's response and true to his word we will be meeting some time in the next two weeks. I have many questions to ask but central to my conversation will be accountability of the Crown Prosecution Service and the CPS's relationship with the Police.

Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police

Mr Brian Moore

Wiltshire Police Headquarters

London Road

Devizes

Wiltshire

SN10 1DN

Dear Mr Moore,

I am writing in order to express the gratitude of all my family for the manner in which Wiltshire Police investigated the murder of my mother Antonietta Guarino.

From our first tragic contact with you, you have shown a level of humanity and understanding for the terrible circumstance that we have had to endure beyond simple professionalism and for this I am forever thankful. You should all be proud of the excellent and invaluable work that you do.

The appalling circumstance of mum’s murder has truly shaken my faith in our society, but your unrelenting hard work has helped start to rebalance my world.

Many of you worked on operation Mews and I do not know you all but I would like to express my deepest thanks to every one of you. Thank you to Ciara McVeigh and Gemma Bloomfield the Community Support Officers who attended mum’s home on Sunday the 25th of January 2009 and had the foresight to pursue their suspicions and call for help. Thank you to Annette Batch, Sally Saunders and Sammy Bettles the Family Liaison Officers whose comfort and understanding at the early stages helped us enormously, they made your service human. Thank you Rebecca Mayfield and Claire Stangoe and all of the forensic science team who worked tirelessly to uncover the picture of what happened in mum’s home.

My mum’s body was dumped in to the River Avon and because of this dive teams from both Avon & Somerset and Sussex Police had to endure freezing cold temperatures searching by fingertip in water up to 5 meters deep with almost no visibility. Please pass on my thanks to both teams. I clearly remember thinking about these guys constantly and praying for their success and safety during the dark days of last winter while mum body was missing.

Finally to Steve Fulcher, Nick Shorten, Matt Davey and everybody at the Major Investigation Team of Wiltshire Police, I never once felt that you where not profoundly affected but this brutal crime and always felt that you would work until you built the strongest possible case against her murders. I know that in the intense period following their arrest some of you had precious little sleep and your actions at this time would come under close scrutiny later in court. Time has proved that you and your investigative work was invaluable and because of this work these two low life’s and some of their associates are now incarcerated. The people of Wiltshire should be proud of this specialist team as I am sure you are, they are privileged in having such professional dedication to deal with tragedies such as mum’s murder.

Their imprisonment offers me small comfort because my mum’s life was ended so needlessly and with such violence; but at least through everybody at Wiltshire Police’s dedicated work I have not had to suffer the added indignity of her killers escaping justice and for this I will be grateful to you all always.

Thank you.

Tom Sebastiano and all our families

My Request to meet Mr Philip Hammond, Member of Parliament for Runnymede

2009-10-06T23:40:00.000+01:00

After my meeting with Mr Brian Moore chief constable of Wiltshire Police, I have written to Mr Philip Hammond my local MP so that I can discus my concerns surrounding sentencing. I will be writing in due course to both Dr Andrew Murrison the Member of Parliament covering Trowbridge and Mr Richard Bacon Member of Parliament for Norfolk South the constituency that covers Harleston.

If any readers have or know anyone who has personal story's reflecting poor or inadequate sentencing please email these to justice-denied@inbox.lv

Dear Mr. Hammond
Following my conversation with your secretary I am writing to arrange a meeting with you as soon as is convenient. In order that you are able to prepare for this meeting may I take this opportunity to give you some background as to my request. My name is Tom Sebastiano and I live with my family in Runnymede. In January of this year my mother Antonietta Guarino was murdered in her home in Trowbridge. She had lived in Wiltshire from 1996 but prior to that in Runnymede for some 26 years.

The reason that I wish to meet with you is to discuss the outcome of the trial for the men accused of her murder and the deep sense of dissatisfaction as to the sentences received and in particular that of one of the parties involved.

I recently had a meeting with Mr. Brian Moore the chief constable of Wiltshire Police and one of the issues that he raised was throughout his long career as a police officer, he had often struggled to explain sentences passed by the courts to the public he serves. Before now I was never sure if these perceived light sentences were true or the work of ill informed 'pub' talk and exaggerated claims by the media. But now I have had the unfortunate chance to witness that these issues are all too real. Clearly I feel a deep sense of injustice after all I am the son of a mother who was brutally bludgeoned in her own home and the subsequent treatment of her body, property and spirit were so inhuman that no sentence will ever feel correct. But I know that through talking to many people I am not alone with the concerns expressed by Mr. Moore.

I have in an attempt to begin the long journey of remembrance created a Weblog www.justice-denied.blogspot.com in it you can begin to read about what happened. But it is because of this blog and many messages of support it has generated that I know people are so unhappy about sentencing in general. How many times have you heard 'you would get more for' so and so or such and such a crime? Why is this, the perception of the public? Mr. Hammond you are a politician and I hope in a position to help me with answers and possibly win friends by campaigning for the right thing, something that did not happen in Bristol Crown Court.

I look forward to meeting with you and hope that you can help me to find something positive from this sorry story.

Antoniette

2009-10-06T00:35:00.000+01:00

My mother in law, my friend – she was both. Once seen never forgotten! The reason for this? There are many, but to summarise: she was colourful, glamorous, vivacious and an extremely cheerful lady, who always had something to say - needless to say there were never any awkward silences.

Antoniette emanated warmth, and positivity, she was famous for her big cuddles and high pitched laughter. She was an extremely accommodating lady, who always tried to help out in anyway that she could - and this kindness was extended way beyond her family.

She was loved greatly by all her grandchildren, who she always treated with such affection, always making her time spent with them special, such as taking them to the pantomime at Christmas and the cinema whenever she was in Surrey.

She had great spiritual belief and was a lady of strong faith, both in God and peoples good spirit! Perhaps she was too trusting, but I prefer to think that she was just extremely unlucky to have met such an unsavoury pair of immoral delinquents.

She is and always will be greatly missed, but remain alive in my heart.

By Michele Sebastiano

Chick Peas Under My Knees - writing during the late nights of February

2009-10-05T23:19:00.008+01:00

I have until now not been sure whether to post this, it is what I wrote during the long sleepless nights of February 2009. In that period I would wake up often at 3 am and not be able to sleep, the pain of knowing the mum was in the River Avon and yet to be found tortured me ceaselessly. To fight the insomnia I sat at my computer and wrote down my feelings and thoughts. I never finished this, was too difficult. But this is what I wrote………

Chick Peas Under My Knees

Everybody’s sympathy is overwhelming, their condolences are comforting. Family suffer with you. Friends I am sure, try to put themselves in your shoes and express small murmurs of kindness. Even people who don’t know Mum feel our pain and cry.

Nobody really knows what to say to offer small comfort but many people’s efforts eventually add up to a pillow for my head full of sorrow. What do you say in these rare circumstances? Sometimes I can explain the dreadful news clearly; sometimes I talk in small sad undertones. I have to report news back to shocked family in different countries and I speak in another language. My news seems to become fainter when translated or is it that my vocabulary is smaller and so the story loses something in translation? I find myself desperate, wanting to make sure that what I say is clearly understood by her older brothers and sisters. That in spite of not having Mum’s body we no longer have Mum’s soul. I can feel their tremors of shock and sadness across the digital wires.

Bit by bit as the hours pass and the days turn I receive news from those searching, uncovering the truth. The events of Mum’s precious final days of life placed together by professional investigators, forensic scientists, underwater divers, journalists and a shocked distant community.

The news is unrelentingly bad; one painful confirmation follows another. She has not only gone but that her parting is violent and needless. As the sun rises each day I wait to hear what horrible new truth will be discovered. My imagination plays awful scenarios torturing me constantly. Visions of poison, heavy objects, sharp metal or evil hands. Final horrific moments for a confused, frail grandmother meeting her destiny of senseless cruelty.

Everything that she has worked so hard for all her years in a foreign country is now soiled. The fruits of long hours caring, nursing hospital patients now blighted by the events of her death. Her home is no longer her sanctuary the depository of her lifes memories but a murder scene. Sealed by fluttering white strips of polyethylene with blue printing. ‘Crime Scene Do Not Pass’ and in camped by investigators' vans. Cameras film journalists standing in front of the protective barrier buffeted by the cold January air.

“Friends and family are increasing worried by the uncharacteristic disappearance of Antonietta Guarino. She was last seen at a doctor’s appointment in the town three weeks ago. Police are asking for anyone who has seen Antonietta to call their incident room.”

In the distance the lenses catch figures in white paper suits with rubber gloves and boots. How many times before have I witnessed this as I scan the television news? And now I am too a special rare victim, the son of a murdered mother. I join the ranks of those left behind by needless selfish violence, deceit conducted by human earthquakes, whose actions shake my very belief in a good life. Forever I can now understand the white tent in a field filmed from a noisy helicopter, forever I can now understand the lines of men dressed in black, their heads permanently crocked toward the ground walking slowly from field to field, forever I can now understand the chill of a scuba diver bobbing in a murky river.

“Antonietta Guarino is a 61 year old mother and grandmother whose disappearance is totally out of character has been missing for twenty days. Police and family are increasingly concerned for her ware bouts and wellbeing. Antonietta speaks with a heavy Italian accent and sometimes walks with the aid of a stick”

My last conversation with mum is short and sweet, a conformation that she has arrived home safely. I had only packed her small silver car three hours earlier, full to capacity with her belongings, her glamorous clothes, needed for the festive holidays. In the gaps I squeezed Christmas gifts from those who loved her, things she would treasure only for the briefest time. Draped over the back seat her heavy winter coat carefully hung in plastic. I lent low to kiss her soft lips as she hooked herself in to the car. My final memory of our forty-one year relationship is happy.

“Police are appealing to the public to help trace a silver Toyota Yaris”

In the days that follow Christmas we continue with our lives, work begins, schools begin. I bring my son to hospital as always at the beginning of the week. He is receiving treatment and finally progressing well with the care of his doctors and nurses. He calls his grandmother with this news and she is overjoyed that he is making such a good recovery and so quickly. Only six weeks before, mum had witnessed his lowest point and to hear the good news filled her with happiness. She told him so. The next day she calls her daughter in law and friend, my wife. She is still so happy for her grandson but in pain. The years of heavy lifting, a career in care homes moving patients from bed to bath have taken a toll on her; she is delicate and often suffers. “I am going to the doctors today.”

Three days pass my son leaves a message on her answer phone, next day the same and again in two more days. No calls returned, I ask my sister have you heard from Mum?

“No. I left a message yesterday”

Another day passes, I ask again.

“Her lodger me called back, he said that Mum had gone to look after an ill friend”

Mum had worked as a nurse and care assistant all her working life; she had made life comfortable for the old, mentally ill and needy for over thirty years until her retirement. Even now when someone she knew needed help either practical or spiritual she was the first to sacrifice her time and energy. In the weeks before Christmas Mum had spent little time at home, my eleven year old son had been diagnosed with a severe and unusual medical condition. She slept on a camp bed beside him in our local paediatric hospital ward while we waited to hear from the specialist hospital if he would be admitted. Typically others' needs come before her own; she supported my son in those dark days pulling him along like a strong tugboat guides a ship to harbour. Eventually we arrived at the specialist hospital, it was far from our home. My son was broken away from his family to remain in the hands of the specialist, the tears and fear were written in is face as I left him that first night. I believed that it was the worst day of my life! In fact the future held worse much worse. Even in this dark moment she was beside us supporting us, sharing the burden and suffering.

I knew that the lodger was right, Mum’s friend had tragically lost her young daughter to cancer not long ago, she had told me how she spent long sad days and nights with her distraught and grieving mother comforting her at her home. Once again Mum slept in a strange bed so that she could share her kindness with another.

“When will she be back?” I asked.

“He said next Monday”

In two more days then, strange that she hasn’t called to ask after her grandson the past week, whispers through my mind.

Monday comes and goes, Tuesday I leave a message. Still no reply it’s not unusual for Mum to visit us for a week and stay another, she is a pensioner after all with no job to return to. Wednesday I travel to collect my son from hospital. As always when he arrives home he calls Grandma, still no answer. The following morning I return with my son, on the long journey back I feel unhappy that she has not spoken to him. Her friend must be very ill. At a family meal together we all express our concern and agree that my sister and her husband will travel to Mum’s to find her and of course tell her off.

That night a long distant call from her brother, he asks where is Mum? He has been trying to get hold of her some time now. His telephone call focuses our growing concern; we call the Police. The sinister clock starts ticking. First the news that no one is in her home, much later in response to a strong and concerned message, a call from the lodger. I wake in the early hours to speak with him. We discuss Mum’s possible whereabouts, his name, when she last spoke to him I ask all the questions I can. His answers are vague, I feel a little uncomfortable, the conversation ends, my sister will be there in the morning.

The sinister clock ticks, a strange call in the morning. Confirmation from the lodger that the Police had entered the house, he seemed peeved that they had left footprints on the floor!

“Is your sister still coming?” he asked

“I am so concerned for Antonietta” he adds

“I hope you don’t mind but because of last night my partner stayed with me?”

It seemed that he was seeking approval from me. I said nothing to him I just feel uncomfortable with what he says.

The clock ticks as I go about my day, thoughts, and worries breach my concentration. I have constant contact with my brother in law as he and my sister continue their investigation searching for documents and telephone numbers. Finally in the evening they find a small birthday book, pages filled with the names of family and friends written next to the owners birthday date. Each date has a small ditty about the historical significance of the day. August 9^th 1967 ‘US helicopter continue the attacks on North Vietnamese….’ and ‘my son’s birthday’.

Later they are able to find out that Mum is not with her grieving friend; I feel strongly that something is wrong with this news. My sister and brother in law wait at the house late for her return, finally they travel the one hundred miles back to their children.

The following morning I take my son to hospital, he asks after his grandma, I summon up the courage to pretend that nothing is wrong and that she is with her friend, overstaying to care for her. She will be back tonight you’ll see, she will call you on the ward, you’ll see. The invading armies of concern begin to break through the defences of my mind. The sinister clock ticks, as the fortifications start to crumble, hour by hour. I can no longer concentrate on the days business, emails unanswered, phone left to ring. I abandon my desk.

When I get home I see the news.

“Two men have been arrested tonight on suspicion of murder”

One sentence and I know what has happened, the evil earthquakes aftershock has reached my family, it’s tremors travelling distance and time to lay ruin to our ordinary lives. That evening specialist family police officers comforted us as best they could. The police had also been uncomfortable with the last 24 hours excuses and events. During that day they had recovered images of two men stealing money from an electronic cash dispenser with Mum’s card. They could or would not identify the men to me that night. My mother was still missing and there was no sign of her car, a missing person case had opened.

Late in to the night we speak face to face with the specialist officers sent to our homes to discuss what we know of Mum’s possible whereabouts. Soon after talking with us they decide that we are ‘Critical Witness’ people who can help the police giving times, events and repeating conversations.

That night, in bed my mind is sent spinning with fears and accusations, I guess at Mum’s fate and frustrated I voice my suspicions.

The following morning we are told that the men who have been arrested are the lodger and his gay lover. The car has been found; reported in by a scrap dealer after seeing the media request for help. Two men had dropped it off eighteen days before, he was not interested the car, it lacked documents. Two days later it was abandoned outside his business premises. My fears are freezing together

The day is spent waiting for the local police to set up video interview rooms and the investigating officers to travel up. We wait; wait for each to have our opportunity to talk as the mechanics of the investigation turn. The two men in custody wait for police questioning, prompted by our own forth-coming interviews. Finally at 8 o’clock in the evening I sit down in front of the recording equipment and tell my story. It takes hours. Well into the night I reveal all that I know, the wonderful Christmas and New Year we spent together. Our family relationships, how Mum and I bickered over the smallest things. Her relationship with my children and the things she did with them. How she spent long telephone conversations with my wife chatting about life and people she knew. Her history both past and more recently. We talked about Mum’s habits and religious beliefs and what she was like. In detail we went through the final conversations and movements that I knew about. In detail I repeated the conversation with the lodger seventy two hours before. I told what I remember of the conversation, it was clear to me, not a foggy distant conversation, I remember well as if it had just happened only hours before. My interviewer scribbled down notes as the camera rolled on pointing down at me from the corner. Whenever we stopped to change discs we went through the laborious process of re introducing ourselves re stating the time so as to make one continuous event. Twelve miles away the same process was happening with my sister as she disclosed her memories of the recent days and the distant past. She is left shattered as she is pressed into remembering in great detail her visit two days before to Mum’s home. That desperate day searching for documents, telephone numbers to find her. She tells the police while walking through the house she sees the spare bedroom bed is not covered. It is strange because Mum’s beds are not just made, they are carefully dressed. My sister’s dark fear remains unvoiced until she speaks to me in the early hours.

“Your Mum often slept in that bed when she didn’t feel well” my wife told me

“It is electric, she enjoys the massage when she is tired”

Early the next morning the police transmit our evidence to the incident room. The interviews of their suspects begin. Each separately asked their story, given time to lie before being challenged with our facts, later that day the same process is repeated with the information yielded by Mum’s son-in-law and daughter-in-law.

That afternoon my wife and I travel to our son's hospital unit, we are nervous because what do you say to an eleven year old who is recovering from a severe and difficult condition and whose primary concerns are the safety and well being of his family. Our son had been making good progress as we explained to his doctors the events of the last three days.

‘He needs to know the truth no matter how hard it is for him’ came the answer.

‘He will find out soon enough and when he does he will lose all trust in you’ we continue to listen stealing ourselves for the hard task ahead.

‘The potential damage of finding out you have lied [protected him] is probably more damaging than the cost of knowing’

More tough love doled out to an ill child on the road to recovery.

‘In any case we are here for him, we can mend him again should he break’ we have to put our trust once again in their hands.

In a large formal room he enters, happy as always to see us, eager to go home for the weekend, already asking for a pit stop at the local fast food joint so that he can enjoy the trip home. Does he sense something is wrong, can he read our faces as he sits with this sombre audience? We lean close to him and explain why we are about to say the dreadful news. Hoping to prepare him a little.

“Nonna has been missing for twenty days, the police are very concerned” he stares back I can see his eye getting glossy.

“They are looking very hard for her at the moment”

He asks quietly “Are they using more than one car?”

“Of course” we assure him

“There are 100 police officers they even have dogs and a helicopter” we hope to impress him with the helicopter.

“Last night they arrested two men because they think that they could have hurt Nonna” He looks shocked.

“Can we see them?” his voice is a little shaky

“Why”

“Because I really want to hurt them, I want to punch their faces in”

The police have found her car it was at a scrap dealer’s yard abandoned. It is too much for the child to bear. His tears finally break free and roll down his cheeks, he begins to sob. His heart is broken.

We have a long journey to my sister’s house; the family liaison offices want to see us; update us with the latest news. It is not good.

“We have received reliable evidence that there is a body in the river”

They explain that the area is closed in anticipation of first light when the specialist divers will begin looking underwater. My heart sinks I feel great sadness, this story is slowly becoming a nightmare. We prepare ourselves to explain once again this latest news to our son. It is crushing to him.

“Could she still be alive?” He quietly asks the officer

“No, not if she has been in the water, she cannot still be alive”. More truth for him to absorb, I think that he knew the answer he just wanted to check.

I stare at his cousin, my sisters 8 year old daughter, she is still and sad, very sad, all our faces are pale the atmosphere is pensive. Questions race about in our heads, we uncontrollably interrogate the offices with our fears and uncertainties. No more answers, only cautious comments, a shield of facts protecting what we all believe to be true.

The next morning we are told that the two men in custody are in fact the lodger and his lover; we are told that the lodger has confessed to murdering mum and together with his lover dumped her into the freezing cold river. It is too much to take in; this is not true it is just a bad dream. How can my lovely mum, caring grandmother, defenceless lady end her days like this? It’s not fair, it’s just not right. It is a waste and what for? Our children have been denied her love, what is the reason? Why? Why? Why?

“A lodger and his boyfriend are to appear in court charged with the murder of a landlady who has been missing for more than three weeks. Antonietta Guarino, 61, was last seen at her doctor’s surgery on January 7.

Despite the lack of a body, a murder investigation was opened because of inconsistencies in accounts found at her home in. Other financial information and vehicle and phone evidence has also been discovered.

Marc Riley, 24, who lodged with Mrs. Guarino, and his partner David Carr-Burstow, 19, have been charged with her murder. They are due to appear before North Wiltshire magistrates today. Divers are continuing to search a stretch of the River Avon.

Scientific examinations are also being carried out at two houses.”

I wait all day, I feel hunger, my eyes are tired. No news from the river I imagine the cold currents dragging her body, the indignity of the death compounded by not having her. I feel true hate, true hate for the first time. I am sickened by the sadness of what they have done. Why? Why? Why?

Later that night I see an image of Mum’s car, its tyres are caked in light brown mud. This small image accompanying a digital news story makes me sob, for what seems like ages I sob, tears drip from the end of my nose I know that my face is contorted. No comfort in this painful moment. Why? Why? Why?

Still later in the night I imaging her last moments, did she see them coming at her? Did they surprise her? Did she suffer? I am haunted by images of her trying to defend herself. My body refuses to sleep, my mind is overburdened with distressed thoughts. In the semi darkness of the bedroom I look at my wife, sleeping gathering strength to support her husband and son for the next day. She has temporally encased her grief, it will come in the future. She too has lost a friend, I see sadness in her too.

"Two men have been charged with murder following the disappearance of a 61-year-old woman in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. Her car, a silver Toyota Yaris, was found abandoned outside a scrap yard five days later. Ms Guarino's lodger Marc Riley, 24, and his gay lover David Carr-Burstow, 19, are accused of killing the Italian woman. Wiltshire Police said the pair would remain in custody over the weekend and appear before North Wilts Magistrates Court, Chippenham, on Monday. A search for Ms Guarino's body continues, with divers trawling the River Avon about four miles from where she lived. Forensic officers were also examining two houses in Trowbridge".

Late in the afternoon the Police team arrive, the long trip delayed by an accident on the motorway. The boss, a man only a few years older than me has an air of seniority, beside him sits a scribe taking notes of our conversation. The meeting is in a local pub, they have organised with the staff to section off a large part for our privacy. I sit right next to him, he commands respect from his colleagues, by his body language his posture and rank. He starts his slow methodical explanation of the last week’s events, free at last to say what the police now know.

There is a notable difference between him and the family liaison officers, he is factual, his confirmed story is unsettling after days of ‘maybes, could be’s and we don’t know yet explanations. I listen carefully to his outline of their work so far, how just after lunch the two had been charged formally with my mother’s murder. He started to explain how the lodger had confessed to killing my mum within twenty four hours after his arrest. How he and his partner had taken her body to the river. They had got her caught in vegetation and he undressed to wade in so that he could untangle her and push her under the freezing cold January water of the Avon River. How they drove her car across farmers' fields and then around town damaging it’s bodywork.

I heard how they had met in a drug rehabilitation centre, how they had started a relationship a year before. I heard about their lifestyles, the company they kept, and their previous criminal history. I wanted to hear the truth of what the police knew, I expected it to be bad but I had gambled wrong, the story was sordid, disgusting, I felt sick. They had systematically set about using her property, stealing her money and opening online store accounts to buy products in her name. Their associates helped them to dispose of the car and when they learnt what the pair had done, blackmailed them, threatening to tell the police unless they paid to keep them quiet. This they did with my mum's stolen money, it paid for their friends perverted drug pleasure. I could scarcely comprehend what I was hearing it was unreal how could this be true.

How did they kill her?

The boss took a breath and quietly but firmly said “With a hammer”

I could feel myself swaying forward my hand came up to meet my head. I felt enormous sadness in that moment; complete silence in my soul, resounding emptiness for a moment. Then came the visions as if on fast-forward for I only had moments to take it in. I felt a hand of affection on me, he continued to explain the grim details of the murder scene the forensic evidence that they said would prove that the killer’s version of that nights events were fantasy. What he said hardly registered, he had to repeat it. I could not hear anything through the white noise in my mind, all I could see were her last terrible moments. The disgrace of their actions crushed me along with my mother’s skull.

The senior investigating officer slowly after a respectful pause continued to explain the facts of the case, explaining circumstance, possible motive, their character and personality, their relationship. The explanations were like jigsaw pieces. I started to put together reasons for the persistent phone calls to Mum by the lodger toward the end of her Christmas stay, he was checking to see when she would be home so that he would not be caught with his lover. The sorry story was strangely familiar, like a film or some work of fiction only it is chillingly unbelievably true, this ridiculous event has happened to us, from nowhere my mothers life taken, ours changed forever.