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A Worksop killer who denies murdering an elderly woman on the grounds of diminished responsibility because of alcohol-dependency has divided psychiatric experts.

Lawrence Bierton battered Pauline Quinn, 73, to death with a coffee table at her home in Rayton Spur, Worksop, on November 9, 2021, a jury at Nottingham Crown Court has heard.

Bierton, 63, who at the time of the attack was on licence from a life sentence for murdering two elderly sisters in 1996, admitted to emergency services that he was an alcoholic, had drunk several shots of rum and at least a quarter of a bottle of vodka on the morning of the attack.

On Monday, forensic psychiatrist Dr Hany El-Metaal said that alcohol dependency constituted a “mental abnormality” and withdrawal symptoms could have affected Bierton’s state of mind.

Lawrence Bierton. (Picture: Nottinghamshire Police.)

He said the “severe nature” of the killing, which he said had “no clear reason”, was evidence of “a lack of control” which he believed pointed in favour of a “mental abnormality” caused by alcohol addiction.

Bierton, who was jailed for life in 1996, was first released in 2017 but was recalled to prison the following year for failing to address drug and alcohol issues.

He was then released again in May 2020, moving to Rayton Spur in November that year.

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Pauline Quinn (Picture: Nottinghamshire Police.)

Dr El-Metaal said the attack on Ms Quinn, which prosecutors said stemmed from a refusal to give Bierton money for alcohol, was triggered by her pulling an emergency cord in her accommodation.

This, he claimed, made Bierton fear a recall to prison over his substance misuse, which when combined with his alcohol dependency caused him to lose self-control.

Prosecutors allege that Bierton bludgeoned Ms Quinn to death with the table, leaving her with 29 separate injuries, and was in control of his actions at the time.

But on Tuesday, a second psychiatrist told the jury Bierton’s long term anxiety and depression “fluctuated from mild to moderate”.

He said it was impossible to know for sure how much Bierton drank that day and CCTV evidence was no substitute for examining him.

“It’s not the case that when people go into alcohol withdrawal they automatically become violent,” he told the court.

Bierton denies murder but has already admitted a charge of theft. The trial continues.

Worksop killer’s defence of drink-dependent abnormality divides expert psychiatrists