![\"Grandson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/fac46ef3-dc54-4bce-9ba7-9dc087fe2194-Screenshot20251115at1.57.56PM.png\"\/)
<\/p>\nGrandson gets life in prison for murdering his 96-year-old grandma (Photo:{ }Hampshire Constabulary)<\/p>\n
Police said Hampshire Fire and Rescue responded to Finch’s home after a carbon monoxide alarm was triggered. That’s when they found her lifeless body. <\/p>\n
Authorities said a fire started on the bed, with investigators finding spent matches at the scene. A post-mortem examination showed that the cause of Finch’s death was neck compression, with police adding that Carboxyaemoglobin (COHb) wasn’t detected in her blood, so she died before the fire started.<\/p>\n
During an investigation, police said Powell, who visited Finch every week to do her food shopping and play Scrabble with her, told friends he was in debt and hoped his grandmother would die soon so he could inherit her money. <\/p>\n
He was avoiding his landlord and ignoring debts that were being chased, further suggesting a financial motive,” police said. “Statements obtained as part of our investigation also identified that Joshua had confided in a friend the following morning that he had a nightmare that he had killed his grandmother.”![\"Grandson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/e95c414e-dc31-4405-bb6a-ad6609f8e262-Screenshot20251115at1.58.29PM.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Grandson gets life in prison for murdering his 96-year-old grandma (Photo:{ }Hampshire Constabulary)<\/p>\n
Powell initially denied killing his grandmother, as police said he told them he was sleeping at the time of her murder. But he later confessed and was arrested on suspicion of murder, as evidence against him continued to pile up. <\/p>\n
First, police said security video showed his car leaving his home shortly before 2 a.m. and was near his grandmother’s house on the morning of the murder. They said his phone, which was connected to his car, was also active at the time.<\/p>\n
The notes on his phone additionally showed the code to the key safe at Emma\u2019s address had been entered weeks earlier, despite him claiming to not know the code,” according to authorities.<\/p>\n
Investigators said forensics also linked him to the injuries on Finch’s’s neck, as well as the wheels on the key safe, and a belt that had traces of his grandmother’s blood on it. A knife that matched the set from Finch\u2019s house, which was missing, was also recovered. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a tragic case that has had a significant impact on Emma\u2019s family. My thoughts and those of all of the officers who have worked so hard to secure this conviction, remain with her relatives,” Detective Chief Inspector Howard Broadribb said. <\/p>\n
\u201cJoshua\u2019s callous actions took advantage of Emma\u2019s trust in him. His subsequent denials when faced with mounting evidence against him showed a total disregard for Emma and her family. His subsequent admission at court spared them from having to endure a trial, but that is little comfort when compared to the loss that they have suffered. I hope that this sentence gives all of Emma\u2019s relatives the opportunity to grieve their loss in the knowledge that justice has been served,” Broadribb added. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are committed to ensuring those that commit the most serious harm in our communities face the consequences for their actions, and that we support victims to secure results like this significant sentence for them at court\u201d.<\/p>\n
Finch’s family said they will never forget her. They added that justice has been served now that Powell is behind bars. <\/p>\n
Mum throughout her amazing long life showed great courage and perseverance, we as a family must now do the same as we begin the process to rebuild our shattered lives with her ever in our thoughts and prayers,” her loved ones said. “Mum can now finally rest in peace knowing that justice has been served and her grandson will now spend a significant period of his life incarcerated for her murder.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man from London murdered his 96-year-old grandmother who he went grocery shopping for and played Scrabble with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-55639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}