Upper Norwood woman killed by former lover
8:12am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Where I Live By Hannah Williamson
Siobhan Kelly was found dead in her flat
An alcoholic woman who befriended men in return for drink was battered to death by a former lover, a court heard.
Siobhan Kelly of Tudor Road, Upper Norwood, was found dead in her flat on February 7, last year.
Police found the 39-year-old's decomposing body on her bed wrapped in a duvet, after she failed to make contact with her family and friends.
Stephen Foad, from Fox Hill, Crystal Palace, appeared before the jury charged with her murder on Tuesday.
The Old Bailey heard Miss Kelly, who was unemployed, had attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at St Stephens Church in Dulwich Road.
She confessed to the group organiser Lizzy Walsh-Steele that she would go to local pubs and befriend elderly and unattractive men in order to get alcohol from them - a behaviour she said caused her "a lot of shame."
Miss Kelly was last seen alive on the morning of January 15, 2011.
She met Mr Foad later that evening, asking him to buy her beer before the pair returned to her flat.
Duncan Atkinson, prosecuting, said at about 10pm Katarzyna Budka, who lived in the flat above Miss Kelly, heard a loud male voice swearing.
Miss Kelly's voice could also be heard but it sounded as if she were drunk and moaning.
Mr Atkinson said: "Ms Budka then heard banging noises, the banging was not continuous but rather started and then stopped.
"After about an hour Ms Budka heard a male voice saying "Stop moaning, it was just a punch in the face.
"Stop moaning if you won't stop moaning I'll keep doing it."
The court heard the banging then started again and continued for a further half-an-hour before the noises stopped at 11.30pm.
The jury were told Miss Kelly was attacked in two rooms and that bloody fingerprints and footprints found at the scene, matched those of the defendant.
DNA testing showed she had been struck with a broken red candle found in the living room. She later crawled or was dragged to her bedroom, where she was attacked again with a bedside lamp.
Mr Atkinson told the jury: "Of the 39 pieces found 23 had been bloodstained. On one piece there were numerous spots on an inside surface, the result of impact to a bleeding person."
A post mortem found she had been repeatedly struck to her head, with heavy blows from fists and other items.
There was also bruising to her torso and a number of her ribs were fractured, consistent with being stamped on by a shod foot.
Mr Atkinson said: "Miss Kelly had been beaten to death. She had received heavy blows to her head-not one knock but a number of blows.
"In addition, she had received blows to her body-not the result of a fall but of being struck blows that she tried to ward off with her arms, and being stamped on when she was on the ground."
Mr Foad, who said Miss Kelly fell and hit her head during an argument, denies murder.
The trial continues.
