BBC News
The daughter of a murdered woman says her life shattered when she saw the killer enter her mother’s home via a ring doorbell alert.
Dean Mears dragged grandmother Catherine Flynn, 69, from her bed and stamped on her, breaking every bone in her face during the attack in October 2024.
Mrs Flynn’s daughter Natasha Flynn-Farrell said she watched helplessly after she received a doorbell camera alert of the drug dealer breaking into her mother’s home in the seaside town of Rhyl in Denbighshire.
Jailing him for life with a 27 year and 128 day minimum term, Judge Rhys Rowlands said Mears, 35, was responsible for a “savage, and quite ferocious and merciless attack”.
He said the recording captured on the doorbell camera “can only be described as horrific”.
“It was by all accounts a truly shocking and cruel way to end her life.”
Mears, from Kinmel Bay in Conwy, was found guilty of murder after a nine-day trial in Caernarfon in May.
The jury heard he had taken ketamine and cannabis before breaking into the frail grandmother’s home – a woman he had never met.
He then smashed a window and entered the home, going straight to Mrs Flynn’s bedroom.
He could be heard screaming at her before the sickening sound of stamping was captured on the doorbell recording.
Mrs Flynn was taken to hospital after suffering extensive facial trauma and multiple fractures, where she died the following day.
Prosecutor Andrew Jones KC said she had suffered serious health and mobility issues, and used a stairlift and a walking frame inside her house.
She was just 4ft 10in (1.47m) and weighed less than eight stone (50kg).
Family photoMrs Flynn-Farrell addressed her mother’s killer in the dock on Friday.
“You Dean Mears – you can’t even look at me,” she said.
“You didn’t just kill my mum – you killed a part of me.
“You Dean Mears took the light out of my life.
“I want my words and my face to be etched into your brain.”
She said she lived with the footage and sounds captured by the doorbell camera during the attack.
“I hear those thuds to her head, face and neck every day.
“It replays in my in slow motion – thud, thud, thud.
“That moment was the vilest, sickening moment of my life.
“How could you do what you did to my mum – my queenie. You should hang your head in shame.
“You are nothing but a coward. I’ll never forgive you Dean Mears.”
North Wales PolicePathologist Dr Brian Rodgers told the jury Mrs Flynn’s injuries were “the types of injuries you see in high-speed road traffic collisions”.
The doorbell recording suggested there were up to 15 blows from her killer.
Mears admitted he had carried out the attack, but said he had no recollection of what happened.
His defence team argued Mears had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), after being stabbed twice following a prison sentence for drug dealing.
Speaking to BBC Wales before the sentencing, Mrs Flynn-Farrell recounted the moment she received the doorbell notification to tell her someone was at her mother’s front door.
“It is the worst night of my life I have ever experienced,” she said.
“My life just shattered in that second,” she said.
“As soon as I clicked on that notification, that was the moment my world crumbled.”
Mrs Flynn-Farrell was home alone as events unfolded a short drive away at her mother’s house, and could only watch and listen until Mears left before she could phone the police.
“For those two minutes I had to watch that out. It felt like two hours. I was hysterical.”
Arriving at the house, Mrs Flynn-Farrell was kept outside while police went in to see what had happened to her mother.
“I did know it was serious but I was trying to tell myself it was going to be OK, that hopefully it wasn’t as bad as what I’d heard.
“But it was awful. It was the worst outcome that could have ever happened for her – and for all our family.”
Mrs Flynn-Farrell said Mears was “not worth the air we breathe”.
“To be able to do that to a defenceless, 69-year-old, frail, seven stone little woman. She was like a little doll.
“He’s a monster and he’s a coward.
Mrs Flynn-Farrell said her mother’s murder has had a profound affect on her and those around her.
“There are so many lives he has ripped apart,” she said.
“The ripple effect this has had – not just on the family, on the community, on complete strangers. It’s been a whirlwind of emotions for everyone.”
She said she was still living with the impact every day.
“I find it hard most days to get up and go out. I don’t want to see anyone, I’ve lost contact with my friends.
“It’s given me bad anxiety, depression, PTSD. I don’t even watch the telly anymore, in case things trigger it.
“I’m living a nightmare still.”
Mrs Flynn-Farrell said she hoped the sentencing could finally bring some closure to the tragedy and wants to be able to help others facing family trauma in the future.
She coined the social media tag #JusticeforQueenie as the murder case went through the court system, as a platform to remember her mother and to talk about what had happened.
“It’s not just for my mum – it’s for everyone’s Queenie,” she said.
“I want this to carry on and be a platform against violence for women and girls. It’ll be used to help other organisations, femicide awareness and things like that.”
