A man has been jailed for life over the killing of his grandfather as legal history was made at the Old Bailey with the first televised sentencing in England and Wales.
Ben Oliver, 25, was acquitted of murder but had admitted the manslaughter of 74-year-old David Oliver in Mottingham, south London, on January 19 last year.
The court today heard how he had text his mum saying ‘mum, I’ve killed grandad, I love you’ as he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 10 years and 8 months.
Judge Sarah Munro QC made legal history on Thursday as she sentenced Ben Oliver while the footage was being broadcast on news channels.
The sentencing of Oliver took place in Court Two, one of the Old Bailey’s oldest courtrooms.
The “troubled and angry young man” from Bexleyheath previously admitted killing his bedbound grandfather in a knife attack.
The 25-year-old defendant admitted manslaughter due to diminished responsibility. He was cleared of murder by jurors at the Old Bailey.
The court heard Oliver attacked his bedbound grandfather, who lay “helpless” in his bedroom following a stroke.
Prosecutor Louis Mably QC had told jurors it was carried out in the intention to
kill because Oliver was “very angry” at learning of allegations against his grandfather of historical s3xual abuse of girls.
The defendant had used a kitchen knife in the brutal attack, then confessed what he had done to his grandmother, the court had heard.
Sentencing him, Judge Munro set out Oliver’s troubled family background, autistic spectrum disorder and depression.
She noted he had loved his grandparents until he found out about allegations of s3xual abuse involving his grandfather.
That love turned to hatred of his grandfather and Oliver developed an “obsessional tunnel vision” leading to a determined decision to kill in a “ferocious” way, the judge said.
Oliver inflicted 21 stab wounds to the victim’s face and seven to the torso before telling his grandmother: “He cannot hurt you any more now.”
After weighing up aggravating and mitigating features, the judge told Oliver: “In your case I do consider the seriousness of the offence does justify a life sentence.”
The defendant himself was convicted of s3xual offences against a young girl in 2016 when he was aged 15.
He was released from youth detention in September 2019.
