Homeless man admits to battering woman to death with a mallet
A homeless man accused of battering a woman to death with a mallet days after she took him in has pleaded guilty to her murder.
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Victoria Adams, 37, was found dead at her flat in Hammersmith, west London, on February 9 after police were called to a report of a man attempting to break in to the property in Coulter Road.
She was found face down in a bedroom with a black bin bag over her head which was covered by a pillow.
Ms Adams had suffered at least 10 separate injuries to the back and side of the head from being struck with a blunt object, said to be a mallet found with her blood and DNA on it.
Her attacker, Apapale Adoum, 39, who was arrested at the scene, had met her on February 6 when he was living in a homeless shelter.
She had invited him to stay with her but later wrote a note to ask him to leave.
On Tuesday, Adoum appeared at the Old Bailey and pleaded guilty to murder.
Adjourning sentencing, Judge Nigel Lickley KC told the defendant: "The sentence for murder is a life sentence and that is what I will pass on October 24."
The defendant was remanded into custody.
Adoum was charged with her murder in June and appeared at the Old Bailey by video-link from Wandsworth prison for a preliminary hearing.
