British family that Googled ways to murder grandpa is put away

GlobalPost

An elderly pensioner's daughter and three grandkids Googled "the easiest way to kill an old person" before trying to kill him for an inheritance. 

Police analysis of computers seized from the family home in Hampshire, England, also revealed Google searches on ''1000 ways to die,'' ''how to kill someone'' and ''10 easy ways to kill someone with no trace," the Guardian reports.

The group — comprising the man's adopted daughter, 49, her daughters 16 and 14, her son, 19, and his girlfriend — also researched ways of poisoning the 89-year-old pensioner, who suffers dementia, with toadstools.

In an attempt to ''frighten him to death,'' they threw bricks through his window at night and cut the fuel line on his car to try to make it explode, the Daily Mail reports.

Eventually, the co-conspirators attacked the man using bricks in plastic bags at the house he shares with his 87-year-old wife near Winchester, England.  

During the six-week trial, jurors were shown pictures of the black eyes, cuts and bruises the elderly man suffered across his body.

According to the Daily Mail, the five plotters cannot be named to protect the anonymity of the children. All denied charges of conspiracy to murder over the plot in October and November last year. 

The victim — suffered head injuries — had reportedly given his privately educated daughter, his paid care-giver, lavish gifts including a car in the months leading up to the attack.

She was jailed for 17 years. Her son was given an indeterminate sentence in a young offenders' institution. His girlfriend was given three years in youth detention. The 16-year-old received a 26-month youth detention order, and her her younger sister was given a two-year youth rehabilitation order.

According to a Guardian report on the court hearings:

The victim's son spoke of his bewilderment at discovering his sister had committed the attack. The man said he and his sister had enjoyed a privileged upbringing, including private education, and that she had been planning to kill their mother, too.

''The police told me they had reason to believe my own sister and her family had been planning to kill mum and dad. They told me they believed they were planning to do away with dad first and then my mum as well. Thankfully, they never got that far.''

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