Footage has been released of a Croydon man fleeing police during a five-hour stand-off, moments after murdering a 73-year-old retired nurse in her own home.

Aaron Fyle, 29, was sentenced to at least 31 years in jail on Friday, January 10, 2020 after battering Eulin Hastings over the head with a coffee table, then setting fire to her body.

He had smashed his way through the patio door of her house in South Norwood, south-east London, and carried out an "untidy" burglary, breaking a lamp and emptying the retired midwife's jewellery box.

When he was disturbed, he attacked Mrs Hastings and used napkins from the kitchen to set a fire at the bottom of the stairs where she lay dead or dying.

He tried to put out the blaze before fleeing the scene and burgling another nearby home while the occupants, a mother and baby, were inside.

The woman managed to escape with her daughter and alerted police, who found Fyle still in the house, armed with a knife. Fyle jumped over fences and leapt on to a roof, where he threatened to harm himself during a five-hour stand-off.

Large parts of the chase were caught on body cams and CCTV.

Your Local Guardian:

Fyle, of Croydon, south London, admitted the burglaries, possessing a knife and the manslaughter of Mrs Hastings and was convicted of her murder following a trial at the Old Bailey.

The jury had rejected his claim he saw a "demon" and acted in self-defence or killed the mother-of-three while mentally ill.

On Friday, Judge Mark Lucraft QC jailed him for life with a minimum term of 31 years, with sentences for the other offences to run concurrently, noting that burglary had been his "way of life for many years."

Your Local Guardian:

Ms Hastings’ family said: "There is no waking from this nightmare it continues every moment - it disturbs our sleep and disrupts our daily lives.

"Our mother was a pillar within the community and spent her life helping others. She was loved by everyone who knew her.

"Mum worked as a midwife for over 30 years delivering 100s of babies at St Thomas’s and St George’s Hospitals. Our mother’s final moments will play on our minds and these thoughts will haunt us for the rest of our lives.

"Aaron Fyle you are a parasite who has preyed on vulnerable people who have worked hard for their possessions.

"We believe you to be an evil, monstrous individual who killed a defenceless elderly woman, our mother. You destroyed our family home and all our mother’s treasured belongings and possessions."