Brutal burglar convicted of murdering pensioners in ‘vicious’ robberies

A serial raider has been found guilty of murdering two pensioners who died in hospital after being brutally attacked during separate “vicious” burglaries.

Amos Wilsher was found guilty on Monday of killing 88-year-old Josephine Kaye by a jury, which also convicted him and his younger brother Jason Wilsher of the murder of 87-year-old Arthur Gumbley.

A four-week-trial was told 29-year-old Amos Wilsher acted alone when he posed as a gas firm worker to remove a padlock from a gate before killing Mrs Kaye and stealing her safe containing £20,000.

The Irish-born widow died in hospital in March 2020, three weeks after suffering a broken leg when she was repeatedly thrown to the floor at her home in Harington Drive, Park Hall, Stoke-on-Trent.

Both brothers were found guilty by the jury of being among a three-strong gang which caused fatal injuries to widower Mr Gumbley in a raid on his bungalow in Little Aston, Staffordshire, in November 2017.

Amos Wilsher was arrested at a hotel and spa in Lincoln two weeks after the second murder, while his brother was originally found guilty of Mr Gumbley’s murder in 2019 but was granted a re-trial despite DNA evidence linking him to the scene.

Jurors convicted Amos Wilsher of two counts of murder, and Jason Wilsher of murdering Mr Gumbley, who died three weeks after suffering broken ribs.

The jury further convicted the brothers, described in court as being members of a large family from the Traveller community with links to Derbyshire and Leicestershire, of conspiracy to rob.

Both men were also found guilty of wounding with intent relating to pensioner Dennis Taylor, who was attacked in 2017 at his home in Creswell, near Bolsover, Derbyshire.

Following the raid which led to the death of Mr Gumbley, pictures of the retired business owner’s badly bruised face and body were released, with the agreement of his family, as part of media appeals.

The Coventry Crown Court trial heard Amos Wilsher was linked to Mrs Kaye’s murder by DNA evidence found on a screwdriver, a hat, a security light and a soap tin, as well as a fingerprint on the side of a car.

At the start of the trial, prosecution QC Simon Denison said three robbers had travelled south from the Tibshelf area of Derbyshire looking for “easy targets” near to where Mr Gumbley lived.

After smashing the window in the kitchen door at the back of the house to gain entry to the property, the raiders punched Mr Gumbley in the face, knocking him to the ground.

Mr Denison said: “They kicked him in the shoulder and back, they dragged him through his house, they ripped his watch from his wrist, tearing the fragile skin from the back of his hand.

“They ransacked his house, and they took money, items of jewellery that had belonged to his late wife, and a number of antique items that he had accumulated over the course of his long life.”

The violence inflicted on Mr Gumbley caused injury to his brain and four displaced rib fractures, as well as widespread bruising.

The pensioner was taken to hospital where he was treated for his injuries, but their effect “was too much for his body to withstand” and he died on December 12 2017.

Mr Taylor suffered a broken nose and finger fractures when he was attacked in 2017, four days after Mr Gumbley, by three masked robbers who drove a Mazda RX8 to his isolated farmhouse.

The 82-year-old was knocked to the ground, jabbed in the face with a knife and struck with a baseball bat and walking stick by the gang, who escaped with cash, watches and jewellery.

Mr Denison said Mrs Kaye, who was only 4ft 8ins and lived alone, was attacked on the evening of February 27 2020.

Jurors were told Mrs Kaye was born and raised in Dublin, where she married and had her first daughter, before moving to Stoke-on-Trent in 1955 when her husband was offered a job there.

The prosecutor said: “She was attacked in her home on that Thursday evening by one man, acting alone.

“He repeatedly threw her to the ground, he dragged her through her home and he threatened her with a screwdriver. He found her safe in a cupboard and demanded that she tell him the code, which she couldn’t do.”

Amos and Jason Wilsher, both formerly of Tibshelf, near Alfreton, were remanded in custody and will be sentenced on a later date.