THE broken hearted daughter of Halesowen grandmother Cynthia Beamond, who was savagely battered to death with a saucepan, says the apparent suicide of her alleged killer has denied the family justice.

And it has emerged her family made repeated warnings to Mrs Beamond about Leo Barnes but the committed Christian would see not see fault with her alleged eventual killer. 

Leo Barnes had denied killing Cynthia Beamond and a second pensioner just hours later in London but he was found dead over the weekend in his cell at HMP Hewell, near Redditch.

The 33-year-old of Runcorn Road, Balsall Heath, was set to return to Wolverhampton Crown Court on Monday to be cross examined in the case by Mr Stephen Linehan QC prosecuting.

But Mr Linehan told the six man-six woman jury that at 6.38am on Sunday morning Barnes was found dead in his cell and his body had been removed.

He said reports indicated Barnes, a self confessed bisexual cocaine dealer, had taken his own life but that was a matter that could only be decided at an inquest.

He said from the very beginning police had been looking to arrest the father of one and that was the reason officers picked him up as he drove back to the West Midlands from London.

Mr Linehan said the family of Mrs Beamond, a regular churchgoer, had been anxious about visits Barnes made to her semi-detached home in Juliet Road, Howley Grange.

He said warnings from her family about Barnes went unheeded because the widow felt no ill-will towards anyone including Barnes who she had seen grow up from being a young boy.

“She would not accept he could be considered dangerous even after her engagement ring went missing from the house during one of his visits,” said Mr Linehan.

He told Wolverhampton Crown Court no opinion could be given about the guilt or innocence of Barnes - that would have been up to the jury and they “had been robbed of that task.”

“But no-one who has looked at the evidence in this case could have no doubt whatsoever,” said the prosecutor.

“And anyone looking at the evidence in the case would have seen Mrs Beamond come alive in statements from her friends and family, “Everyone could see the goodness, gentleness and loving affection from all around her and it shone through the papers in this case. She was a truly, lovely person.”

Mr Linehan said 67-year-old Mr Philip Silverstone who met his death at his flat in Belsize Park, London was also a good man and his goodness was demonstrated in the care he provided for his frail, seriously ill wife.

After the case Mrs Beverley Hadley, one of Mrs Beamond’s two daughters - she also had two grandsons - said: “We are devastated as a family that the man we believe is responsible for the brutal murder of my beloved mum is not going to face justice for this horrendous crime.”

She said her life changed forever on June 27 last year when her mother and best friend went missing and two days later they had the terrible news she was dead - violently murdered and then concealed in her own home.

“Mum was not just my mum she was my best friend too. She always called me her rock but she was also my rock and not a day went by when we wouldn’t speak or text. A big part of me died the day my beloved mum died.”

She said her mother was a fit, well and active person who was “with it” adding: “We believed that she would have had many more Christmases and birthdays to celebrate. Those happy times have now been taken away from us.

“Without mum every day of our lives is painful and empty."

She added: "Every day I wake up thinking about her and believing this whole nightmare in just a dream but then realisation hits me over and over again that it is not a dream - it really is a nightmare.”

Mr Justice Haddon-Cave who had been in charge of the case formally discharged the jury and said no-one who had listened to the evidence could have been in any doubt just what a “wonderful” woman Mrs Beamond had been and she would be badly missed by her friends and family.