A man who strangled his 96 year old grandmother to death in a brutal attack driven by his desire for inheritance money has been sentenced to a minimum of 26 years in prison. Joshua Powell, 27, from Lindford, was handed the sentence on Friday, November 14, at Portsmouth Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to the murder of Emma Finch.
Powell broke into his grandmother’s home in the middle of the night and used a belt to k!ll her. After the murder, he set fire to the bed where she lay in an attempt to destroy evidence and conceal what he had done. Hours earlier, CCTV cameras captured him leaving his flat with the belt, which he later tried to hide in nearby bushes.
At about 4 am on May 17, 2024, fire crews rushed to Ms Finch’s home after a carbon monoxide alarm triggered an automatic alert. When firefighters forced their way inside, they found a fire burning in a back bedroom. A post mortem confirmed that Ms Finch had been strangled. Powell, who called her “oma,” visited her weekly, helped with her shopping and played Scrabble with her. In an apology letter he sent to the court, he described her as “the one constant in my life that I could count on.”
The court heard that Powell was drowning in debt, owing his landlord £2500 and roughly £8000 to various companies. Judge Michael Bowes KC told Powell that his grandmother had shown him nothing but love and generosity, but he had repaid her kindness with “a savage killing” done in the hope of gaining money from her will. The judge said Powell had clearly intended to kill her and afterwards attempted to cover his tracks by burning her body and lying to police.
Ms Finch was a mother of two, a grandmother of six and a great grandmother of three. Several relatives told the court in emotional victim impact statements that they would never be able to forgive him. Powell’s mother, Catherine Powell, said she would “struggle ever to forgive him for what he has done.” Ms Finch’s son and Powell’s uncle, Peter Finch, said he feared his mother may have realised Powell was the one strangling her in her final moments, calling it a “haunting memory” that she may have carried to her grave. He told Powell, “You betrayed your mums love that night and that is something for which I can never forgive you.”
After the sentencing, the family issued a statement saying there were no words to describe their pain over the past 18 months. They said the conviction would help them begin to heal and allow Ms Finch to rest in peace knowing justice had been done. They described her as a woman who showed courage and perseverance throughout her long life.
In his letter to the court, Powell said he did not forgive himself. “The word sorry does not even begin to cover how I feel for the unforgivable, truly horrible crime I committed.” He described Ms Finch as a loving, caring woman who brightened every room she entered and said the guilt would torment him every day. “From the bottom of my now destroyed heart and soul I truly am sorry,” he wrote.
Firefighters discovered that the key safe outside Ms Finch’s back door had been opened and the key removed. Police later found the safe’s combination stored as a note on Powell’s phone. Although Powell had switched off his phone’s location finder around the time of the killing, investigators tracked his movements through his car and other digital evidence.
Friends told investigators that weeks before the murder Powell had complained about being broke and said he hoped his grandmother would die soon because he expected to inherit money. On the day she died, he even discussed inheritance with a work colleague and how much he believed her estate might be worth.
The court heard that Powell had Tourette syndrome and reduced cognitive function, but the judge noted that he “knew perfectly well the difference between right and wrong.”
Marie Watton of the Crown Prosecution Service described the killing as merciless and said prosecutors built a strong case using phone records, CCTV, automatic number plate recognition and forensic analysis. She said Powell’s actions stole the final years of Emma Finchs life and caused devastating anguish to her family.
Powell pleaded guilty in May to murdering his grandmother.
