A Birmigham man was ordered to serve at least 38 years today for the sadistic murder of a family of three who were bludgeoned to death with a hammer.

Pierre Williams, 33, of Selly Oak, was given three life sentences for killing former girlfriend Beverley Samuels, 36, her daughter Kesha Wizzart, 18, and son Fred Wizzart, 13, at their home in Manchester on July 12 last year.

Judge Mr Justice Christopher Pitchford said: "Pierre Williams is a man with a low threshold for sexual frustration.

"Just as he had in the past with a previous girlfriend, he took out his frustration by treating Beverley and her daughter with gross sexual aggression. Only he can know what terror and pain he inflicted upon them before they died."

The family were beaten to death with a 2lb engineer's hammer. Mrs Samuels and Kesha - a former Young Stars In Their Eyes contestant - were sexually assaulted.

Mrs Samuels lived with her son at Thelwall Avenue, Fallowfield, but Kesha lived with her father in Heaton Mersey, south Manchester.
She chose to sleep at her mother's on the night she died after returning from London on a late train.  A talented and hardworking teenager, she had just completed her A-levels in English, philosophy and law with a view to reading law at university. It was her ambition to become a barrister.

It was later announced that she had secured two As and a B and had been awarded a scholarship to study at Manchester University.

She was also an accomplished singer and in 2004 she appeared on ITV's Young Stars In Their Eyes, singing Toni Braxton's Unbreak My Heart.

Williams sold mobile phones belonging to his victims to a cab driver and a Birmingham stall holder.

Mr Justice Pitchford would not allow Williams back into the dock to hear his sentence after an earlier outburst. Williams had scuffled with guards in the dock when the first guilty verdict was read out and was removed from the court, shouting: "I'm innocent."

Mr Justice Pitchford told the packed courtroom that the defendant had since been taken to Manchester Prison.  He said: "Beverley Samuels was an impressive young woman, she was making her way in the world and caring, with their father, for her young family.

"She was a woman with high personal standards and I have no doubt it was those standards which resulted in the slaughter by Pierre Williams, of all three of them with a hammer.



"In the course of giving evidence, Pierre Williams volunteered to the jury that the person who did this was an animal. The calm effrontery with which he volunteered that assessment demonstrates to me he harboured no remorse for what he had done and his purpose ever since has been to escape his just punishment if he could.

"Thankfully there was an abundance of evidence upon which the jury convicted him."

The judge described the victims as "popular and beloved" as their family wept openly in the public gallery.

"That family and those friends have my deepest sympathy," he added. "I'm in no doubt Pierre Williams is, by reason of his present tendency towards serious sexual violence, a very dangerous man."

Finally the judge thanked the security guards for restraining Williams, thanked the police for their investigation and thanked the jury, excusing them from being selected as jurors for 10 years.

Williams was found guilty of three counts of murder after the jury deliberated for three hours and 15 minutes. He was also found guilty at Manchester Crown Court of two sexual assaults.

Williams, who grew up in Manchester's Moss Side district before moving to Birmingham, had a history of sexual violence against women. 

Detective Superintendent Ian Foster, of Greater Manchester Police, appealed outside the court for other women who may have suffered at the hands of Williams to come forward.  He said: "I suspect there will be a number of women who have suffered at his hands. Pierre Williams befriends people. He's not an indeterminate sex attacker."

He described Williams as an arrogant, dangerous man and said the streets of Manchester and Birmingham were safer now that he was behind bars.

Mr Foster said: "He's your typical cold-blooded killer. He does not take no for an answer, he does not accept rejection. This was a cold, calculated attack."

He appealed for other women to come forward and speak to police in confidence.