Lawrence Bierton (born 30 December 1959) is an English convicted serial killer. [1] In 1996, he was convicted of the double murder of two elderly sisters in Rotherham. In 2023 he was convicted of a third murder he committed while released on licence. [2]
On 25 June 1995, 79-year-old Aileen Dudill and her 72-year-old sister Elsie Gregory discovered their gardeners, Lawrence Bierton and Michael Pluck, stealing from them. Bierton and Pluck reacted by bludgeoning and suffocating the sisters to death. [3] [4] Bierton and Pluck then piled the sisters' living room furniture over the bodies and set it all on fire. [5]
Bierton and Pluck were both jailed for life at Sheffield Crown Court in 1996. [6]
Michael Pluck died in HMP Rye Hill on 13 February 2012 [5] after failed appeals in 2002 and 2010. [7]
Bierton was released from prison on licence in 2017. He was recalled to prison in 2018 but was released on licence again in 2020. [8]
On 9 November 2021, in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, Bierton battered his 73-year-old neighbour Pauline Quinn to death with her own coffee table. [9] The cause of death was traumatic head injuries. [10] His abuse of drug and alcohol was considered by the prosecution to be a contributing factor. [11]
In January 2023, the Probation Service released their review of the case. [12] Brendan Clarke-Smith, the local MP for Bassetlaw, called for a public inquiry. [13] On 20 December 2023, Bierton received a whole life sentence. [14] [15] The Probation Service apologised to the families for its failings. [16]