Man murders paedophile suffering with Alzheimer’s in ‘brutal attack’ after ‘exploiting him for money’
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Anthony Gardiner carved ‘I am a n**** killer’ onto his dinner plate while in prison for a violent robbery, after killing 76-year-old John Coxon. A 66-year-old man who murdered a convicted paedophile after allegedly seeking to exploit him for money has been jailed for life.
![[Bristol Crown Court heard Gardiner pleaded guilty to murder in December 2024 (PA)]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/17/15/2db19ccffa17cfc688fb6a10b35a651fY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM3MjEyNDA4-2.11810115.jpg)
Anthony Gardiner, who was already in jail for a robbery, pleaded guilty to murder after admitting to prison guards that he attacked John Coxon at the 76-year-old’s home in Stonehouse, stamping on his head. Bristol Crown Court was told that Gardiner knew Coxon had breached his sexual harm prevention order in 2017 by speaking to a child who was known to Gardiner as he passed her home. While there was no evidence of the conversation being of a sexual nature, he was banned from having unsupervised contact with children, the court heard.
![[Anthony Gardiner was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/17/15/newFile-7.jpg)
Gloucestershire Police said Gardiner – whose previous convictions include robbery, wounding with intent, assault, battery, shoplifting, drug and driving offences – had exploited Coxon for financial gain. In 2021, Gardiner told Coxon that he wanted a reward for finding his wallet, and took him to Coventry Building Society to ask for £400 or £500. However, staff alerted police and Coxon was taken home.
On 12 January 2022, Coxon was found on the floor of his kitchen in Park Road by one of his carers and was taken to hospital with facial injuries, where a scan revealed that he had a bleed on the brain from a traumatic brain injury. This led to infections and his cause of death was ultimately kidney failure.
