Ex-OPP officer found guilty of murdering girlfriend, burning her home
Tracy McLaughlin, Special to QMI Agency
First posted: Thursday, April 17, 2014 06:30 AM EDT | Updated: Thursday, April 17, 2014 06:41 AM EDT
NEWMARKET, Ont. — A former Ontario Provincial Police officer was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of murder for beating his girlfriend to death, then setting fire to her home.
A jury found Paul Kenyon of Gravenhurst, Ont., guilty of the second-degree murder of Marion Deacon, 46.
The mother of three was found lying face down in her kitchen, beaten to death, after firefighters responded to a fire that destroyed her home in Gormley, Ont., March 7, 2010.
Desperate for his next hit of crack cocaine, Kenyon, a former OPP officer who resigned 20 years ago, bludgeoned Deacon to death with a baseball bat, took her money, then called his drug dealer.
"She was brutally beaten to death," Crown attorney Gemma Sang told the jury. "It was extreme."
The night Deacon died, Kenyon had been repeatedly calling his drug dealers looking for crack, Sang said.
"He was desperate. He needed money," she said.
Sang said Deacon loved Kenyon, but was worn out from all of his lies and his drug addiction, so she tried to break off the relationship.
She “tried to help him," Sang said, but the constant stress was wearing Deacon out.
On the night she was killed, Deacon went home at about 11 p.m. after waitressing at a pub. She had a few hundred dollars in tips with her. But her burnt work apron that was still with her charred body had no money in it.
The day before Deacon was killed, Kenyon had called a crack dealer 15 times. On March 7, the day of her death, he called his drug dealer eight times between 5 and 7:30 a.m.
On the morning she laid dead, a fire broke out in her home and Kenyon suddenly pounded on the next-door neighbour's door, wearing only his underwear, court heard.
"He was panicking a bit," the neighbour, Jeffery Veinot, testified. "He said, 'The house is on fire,' and he didn't know where Marion (was)."
Shivering in the cold, a neighbour took him clothing.
But Kenyon's singed and bloodied clothing was later found on the kitchen floor near Deacon's body.
Deacon's pet dogs were also found dead in the burned house. A singed photograph showing Deacon's three daughters sat by her bedside.
Throughout the trial, Deacon's three daughters sat at the front of the court, often weeping at parts of the evidence.
Kenyon was later taken to hospital with smoke inhalation and was interviewed by police.
In a video played to the jury, Kenyon is seen lying in a hospital bed and when a police officer tells him he is charged with murder. He asks for a lawyer, but shows no emotional reaction in learning his girlfriend is dead.
Samples taken from his hands and a baseball bat found in the yard had Deacon's blood.
Kenyon will be back in court next month, when a judge will decide if he should be eligible to apply for parole before 25 years.
Ex-OPP officer found guilty of murdering girlfriend, burning her home | Ontario | News | Toronto Sun
Tracy McLaughlin, Special to QMI Agency
First posted: Thursday, April 17, 2014 06:30 AM EDT | Updated: Thursday, April 17, 2014 06:41 AM EDT
NEWMARKET, Ont. — A former Ontario Provincial Police officer was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of murder for beating his girlfriend to death, then setting fire to her home.
A jury found Paul Kenyon of Gravenhurst, Ont., guilty of the second-degree murder of Marion Deacon, 46.
The mother of three was found lying face down in her kitchen, beaten to death, after firefighters responded to a fire that destroyed her home in Gormley, Ont., March 7, 2010.
Desperate for his next hit of crack cocaine, Kenyon, a former OPP officer who resigned 20 years ago, bludgeoned Deacon to death with a baseball bat, took her money, then called his drug dealer.
"She was brutally beaten to death," Crown attorney Gemma Sang told the jury. "It was extreme."
The night Deacon died, Kenyon had been repeatedly calling his drug dealers looking for crack, Sang said.
"He was desperate. He needed money," she said.
Sang said Deacon loved Kenyon, but was worn out from all of his lies and his drug addiction, so she tried to break off the relationship.
She “tried to help him," Sang said, but the constant stress was wearing Deacon out.
On the night she was killed, Deacon went home at about 11 p.m. after waitressing at a pub. She had a few hundred dollars in tips with her. But her burnt work apron that was still with her charred body had no money in it.
The day before Deacon was killed, Kenyon had called a crack dealer 15 times. On March 7, the day of her death, he called his drug dealer eight times between 5 and 7:30 a.m.
On the morning she laid dead, a fire broke out in her home and Kenyon suddenly pounded on the next-door neighbour's door, wearing only his underwear, court heard.
"He was panicking a bit," the neighbour, Jeffery Veinot, testified. "He said, 'The house is on fire,' and he didn't know where Marion (was)."
Shivering in the cold, a neighbour took him clothing.
But Kenyon's singed and bloodied clothing was later found on the kitchen floor near Deacon's body.
Deacon's pet dogs were also found dead in the burned house. A singed photograph showing Deacon's three daughters sat by her bedside.
Throughout the trial, Deacon's three daughters sat at the front of the court, often weeping at parts of the evidence.
Kenyon was later taken to hospital with smoke inhalation and was interviewed by police.
In a video played to the jury, Kenyon is seen lying in a hospital bed and when a police officer tells him he is charged with murder. He asks for a lawyer, but shows no emotional reaction in learning his girlfriend is dead.
Samples taken from his hands and a baseball bat found in the yard had Deacon's blood.
Kenyon will be back in court next month, when a judge will decide if he should be eligible to apply for parole before 25 years.
Ex-OPP officer found guilty of murdering girlfriend, burning her home | Ontario | News | Toronto Sun
