Pint-sized builder who stabbed his partner 40 times in frenzied murder had killed before, court hears
Anthony Ayres stands accused of the brutal murder of mother-of-one Kelly Pearce
A BUILDER who savagely stabbed his partner 40 times before battering her with a claw hammer in a “frenzied” killing had already been jailed for a previous murder, a court heard today.
Anthony Ayres allegedly launched his ferocious assault on mum-of-one Kelly Pearce at her friend’s flat on Canvey Island, Essex, last year.
The attack was so brutal that Miss Pearce’s jugular vein was pierced by one of the blows with forensic tests later revealing her head had been struck so hard by blows that her hair was left against the bathroom wall.
Accused Ayres, 49, fled the scene but was captured leaving the building on CCTV footage while he was arrested in blood-soaked clothes the day after the murder.
The blood on his clothes matched the DNA of Miss Pearce.
Nelson Cairns, prosecuting, revealed to the jury of six men and six women that Ayres had been jailed for life at The Old Bailey in 1994 after he strangled his then partner, Dawn Wisdom, the previous year.
Miss Wisdom’s lifeless body was found by her devastated parents at her home in East London.
Ayres claimed he was innocent but was convicted and jailed for life only to be released on licence in March 2012.
A string of previous convictions were revealed today including a 1988 attack where he throttled his girlfriend to the point where she passed out and the following year in 1999 he slapped and strangled another partner.
"Does this suggest a pattern down the years of a pattern of violence towards women who he was close,” Mr Cairns asked.
He told the stunned jury to keep a "cool head" about the evidence, pointing out that the earlier killing was strangulation and not stabbing or bludgeoning.
The court heard how Miss Pearce and the defendant were in a casual relationship at the time of her murder.
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Mr Cairns warned the members of the jury that the trial - expected to last three weeks - would involve listening to “unpleasant’” evidence.
The jury heard that on the day of the murder Miss Pearce had spent time with her friend Joseph Withers and the pair had gone their separate ways.
In the afternoon Miss Pearce phoned Mr Withers to tell him she was with Ayers and “to come and fetch her”.
The pair returned to Mr Withers’ flat but a short time later there was a knock at the address and it was Ayers.
CCTV showed him ‘pacing up and down’ “as if he was mulling something over in his mind.
The court heard how Ayers knocked on the door and the three of them had chatted.
Mr Cairns said at that moment “there was no hint of the events that were about to unfold”.
As Mr Withers left the flat to go to buy cigarettes, expecting Ayers to follow him, the door suddenly shut behind him.
He heard a bang and by the time he had found his keys to get back inside Ayers had launched his brutal onslaught on Miss Pearce.
Once back inside he saw Miss Pearce slumped against the bath, gasping for air.
Mr Withers said “What are you doing Tony?”
Ayers looked at him but he did not reply and continued to hit her with a hammer, Mr Cairns told the court.
She was still alive and Mr Withers called 999 as Ayers fled.
Police and paramedics made desperate attempts were made to save the well-known Canvey character but there was nothing which could be done to save her.
A post mortem revealed she had been stabbed 40 times in her face and neck by a blade which was about 10cm in length.
She also suffered 10 ‘blunt force’ injuries from a clawhammer which left her with brain damage.
DNA samples from the hammer matched Mr Ayers and the jury heard that the probability of that belonging to someone else was about one in a billion.
Ayers was arrested the following day after he was spotted by an off duty police officer in Southend.
He had cuts to his hands - both on the fingers and palms.
Might the blade of the knife slipped when he was stabbed her, to cause these horizontal cuts? Mr Cairns added.
Swabs taken from the scene in the bathroom and the communal area linked the defendant to the scene.
Ayers, of Canvey Island, refused to comment when questioned by police.
In documents provided to the prosecution Ayers said someone else was responsible for the killing, claiming it could be Mr Withers.
Mr Cairns added: “It was a frenzied attack, there is no question about that. The question is who?”
Forensic tests revealed Miss Pearce’s head was struck so hard by blows that her hair was left against the bathroom wall.
In the wake of her death Ms Pearce's family issued a statement saying they had lost a "loving mother and daughter who was big hearted and full of life".
They added: "Kelly was blessed with a loud and bubbly personality and she was often heard before she was seen.
"Although Kelly faced struggles in her tragically short life, we will choose to remember her the way that she was at her best - full of life and never afraid to show affection for the people that she loved.”
Ayres denies a single count of murder.
The case continues.