A 39-year-old homeless man, Apapale Adoum, has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 21 years for murdering Victoria Adams, 37, after she offered him shelter in her £1.3 million Hammersmith home.
Adoum killed Adams with a mallet on February 9. He pleaded guilty to murder at the Old Bailey in August and was remanded in custody. During sentencing, Judge Nigel Lickley KC described the attack as “brutal and savage”, noting that Adams had shown him kindness by letting him stay in her home.
In a victim impact statement, Adams’s family remembered her as trusting, generous, and caring. Her aunt said Adams “tried to repay the kindness she had been shown by others and she paid for this with her life.” Her younger sister added that Adams left behind four young children, describing the family’s grief and shock over her violent death.
Judge Lickley said Adoum had betrayed Victoria Adams’s trust and that her family had been left struggling to comprehend the loss.
