Man who murdered convicted sex offender jailed for minimum of 20 years
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A man who murdered a convicted sex offender has been jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years in prison. Anthony Gardiner, 66, of Stroud, Gloucestershire, went to the home of John Coxon, 76, in the nearby town of Stonehouse and subjected him to a violent assault on January 12 2022.
Coxon, who was described as frail, died in hospital on March 25 that year from kidney failure related to complications following the head injury inflicted by Gardiner. Bristol Crown Court heard Gardiner pleaded guilty to murder in December 2024, having told police that he had given Coxon “a beating” and was glad he had died.
Judge Martin Picton jailed Gardiner, who chose to represent himself in court, for life and ordered him to spend a minimum of 20 years in prison. The court heard Gardiner had a history of violent offending and is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for the robbery of a disabled man in May 2022.
Judge Picton said: “John Coxon had been convicted of downloading indecent images of children. As a consequence, he was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order. “On one occasion, he breached that order by having contact with a child. There is no evidence that the contact was of a sexual nature. It resulted in Mr Coxon being taken back to court.
“That event was known to you and others.”. The court heard Coxon, who had Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes, was a registered sex offender and this was well-known in his community. In 2017, he breached the terms of his sexual harm prevention order by speaking with a child, who was known by Gardiner, as he passed their home.
