http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6983493.stm
Addict jailed over mother murder
Wright had a =A3400 a day crack cocaine habit, the court heard
A crack cocaine addict who admitted killing his mother and using her
money to buy drugs has been jailed for life.
Amato Wright, 39, hit his mother Maria, 71, more than 40 times with a
hammer and strangled her at their home in Kentish Town, north London,
in 2006.
The court heard he tortured her to obtain her bank cards' PIN numbers
so he could plunder her casino winnings.
An Old Bailey judge ordered Wright, who earlier admitted a charge of
murder, to serve a minimum of 28 years in prison.
Casino win
Judge Giles Forrester said: "It is difficult to understand how anyone
could begin to contemplate doing such a thing to their own mother, in
her own bedroom in her bed clothing during the night.
"What happened on this night is that he wanted more cocaine and, of
course, cocaine costs money.
"He decided to use his mother's cards. His mother must have
disapproved and resisted and the defendant decided she was not going
to stand in his way."
The court heard that earlier that week Mrs Wright had won =A32,000 at a
casino and had put the money in the bank.
Perfect mother
After the killing Wright, an unemployed telephone engineer who had a
=A3400-a-day crack cocaine habit, was caught on CCTV using his mother's
card to withdraw =A3200 and buying drugs.
The morning after the killing he walked into a police station and
said: "I have just killed my mother."
Wright's sister, Anna Oliver, told police her mother had worked hard
to bring up three children before retiring from her job in a West End
shop.
She said: "She lived for her family. We never wanted for anything. She
was the epitome of the perfect mother."
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