An overweight woman who beat a man to death after

An overweight woman who beat a man to death after he called her ‘a tub of lard’ was jailed for life by an Old Bailey judge today (Thurs).

Amanda Adams, 22, and her boyfriend Mark Denton, 28, kicked and punched Dermot Palmer, 38, after he made the insulting comment.

The couple then fell asleep in a sofa next to the bloody body of their victim.

Police officers who were called to the flat at (47) Tintern Court, Ealing, found the couple ‘sprawled’ out on top of one another, still spattered with Mr Palmer’s blood.

When officers spoke to Adams, originally from Barnet, snapped: ‘Yeah what?’ the court heard.

Passing sentence Judge Martin Stephens, QC, told Adams and Denton: ‘Mr Palmer said something harmless which upset you and you then beat him with such force that he died as a result.

‘

Denton was sent to jail for six years but Adams, who was convicted of stabbing a 17-year-old girl in the head in 1993, was branded a ‘dangerous person’ by the judge and sentenced to life imprisonment.

‘A severe sentence is called for to reflect the public outrage at your crime,’ he added.

The killing happened at the home of Eileen Bryant, 45, who had been kind enough to put the pair up.

Adams was even given some new clothes as a gift by Miss Bryant in her attempts to make the couple feel at home.

Their victim, Ealing-born Mr Palmer, was a close friend of Miss Bryant who she had known for ten years and regarded as her own son.

And on the evening of 16 August last year, Miss Bryant asked Mr Palmer over to her home for a drink.

‘Palmer made a silly, but insensitive comment about Miss Adams,’ prosecutor Anne Curnow, QC, told the court.

‘He said: ”You’re a big one.

You’re a tub of lard.

”

‘Mr Denton then ran at him and kicked Mr Palmer in the face shouting: ”You abused my woman.

” And it was at this point that Adams joined in.

‘

The pair then punched and kicked Mr Palmer in the face repeatedly until he was unconscious.

Miss Bryant immediately raised the alarm but by the time the police arrived Adams and Denton had fallen asleep.

‘On the floor was a sofa on which the pair was sprawled.

The two defendants both had blood spattered on their trainers and lower bodies, Miss Curnow continued.

‘Denton was woken by the officers being shaken by the arm and was told he was being arrested on the suspicion of GBH.

‘Adams was asked if she could hear what was being said to her and she replied: ‘Yeah what?’ Miss Curnow told the court.

Mr Palmer received emergency surgery at Charing Cross hospital but on the evening of 18 August he was pronounced dead.

Denton and Adams, of no fixed address, admitted manslaughter and showed no trace of emotion as they were led to the cells.

ends