Hammer killer back in jail after 11 raids while on day release

A Convicted murderer who carried out 11 armed raids while on day release from his life sentence was jailed indefinitely today.

Joseph Williams, 52, was allowed out of HMP Blantyre House in Kent 14 years after he was jailed for killing former sociology lecturer Ayodele Odamttun, 45, with a claw hammer in Battersea.

But he robbed betting shops across south London and Surrey to get cash to feed his gambling addiction, arming himself with a spanner and paint brush taped together and wrapped in a carrier bag to look like a gun. He stole £3,360 between February and June last year.

Williams was convicted of eight counts of robbery, three attempted robberies, and nine counts of possessing an imitation firearm after a week-long trial at the Old Bailey.

Recorder Joanna Greenberg QC said he posed a "significant risk" to the public and ordered him to serve an indeterminate sentence with a minimum term of six years.