Three life sentences for hammer murders - March 7, 2008

A man was handed three life sentences by a Manchester judge yesterday for murdering his former girlfriend and her two teenage children with a hammer.

As Pierre Williams, 33, from Birmingham, was told he would not be eligible for parole for 38 years, police revealed fears he had committed other crimes against women.

Despite the "evil" killer being convicted of the murders at Manchester Crown Court, senior police still urged other victims to come forward. Police revealed he was also "featured" in another unidentified murder several years ago but was never charged.

Mr Williams, who was labelled a cold-blooded, arrogant and dangerous killer by police, bludgeoned to death Beverley Samuels, 36, her daughter Kesha Wizzart, 18, and son Fred, 13, at their home in Fallowfield, Manchester, last July.

He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting the teenage girl and her mother.

The 18-year-old girl was a former contestant in Young Stars In Their Eyes, a television talent search show.

The court was told that after the family raised the alarm, police found their bodies in Mrs Samuels's bedroom.

Mrs Samuels, who was found naked with a duvet covering her, had confided to friends that she was so frightened of Mr Williams she slept with a baseball bat under her bed.

The daughter's body was discovered naked in her bedroom lying face down on the floor with her hands tied behind her back with her own bra. Williams's DNA was found on the bra, police said.

After a media appeal he rang police in Birmingham saying: "I've been on (the) news today. I'm a suspect in a murder inquiry."

But police said Mr Williams, who shouted his innocence in court to the end, had never revealed the reason for his brutal attack.

In a statement, read outside court by police, the family said their lives had "forever changed".

"Our whole lives now surround that terrible date. Birthdays, Christmas and anniversaries are all now lost to memories."

Outside court, Detective Superintendent Ian Foster who led the investigation, told reporters police had fears Williams had committed other crimes against women.

"I suspect other women might have suffered at his hands," he said, urging them to come forward regardless of that sentence. "If anything else we can help them to get their lives back together." He labelled him a cold-blooded killer who could not take no for an answer.