a bed-ridden pensioner.

Yesterday Puisne Judge Norma Wade sentenced Williams to life imprisonment for the murder of 67-year-old Maureen Parker on September 27.

It took the seven-woman, five-man jury just 15 minutes to decide on the fate of Wiliams, 25, who suffocated Mrs. Parker as she lay in her bed.

Last night, after the four day trial, Williams' lawyer Mark Pettingill said he felt the decision was fair, but added that the trial was a "huge waste'' of the taxpayers' money.

His client had pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the beginning of trial and legal precedents, continued Mr. Pettingill, showed that this carried a sentence of life imprisonment when diminished responsibility was involved.

There were no plans to appeal the decision yet, he added.

Earlier in the day, Mrs. Justice Wade summarised evidence jurors had heard during the trial and directed them in the legal issues involved in the case.

Mrs. Justice Wade told the jurors that to pass a verdict of guilty they had to be sure Williams had committed the offence -- if they could not say they were sure, then they must pass a verdict of not guilty.

To find Williams guilty of the charge of murder, she continued, the prosecution must have proven he committed the act intentionally -- not accidentally.

She added that if jurors found him not guilty on this charge because they did not believe he killed Mrs. Parker intentionally, then they could find him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Mrs. Justice Wade said this would be possible if jurors believed defence lawyer Mark Pettingill's argument that Williams fit the bill of diminished responsibility.

She explained this applied if Williams' mind was substantially abnormal to impair his mental responsibility to act properly and the defence had to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.

But Mrs. Justice Wade stressed that the fact Williams admitted he was drinking before he went to Mrs. Parker's Devonshire home on Middle Road did not contribute to this.

The defence, she explained, had to satisfy the jurors that Williams would have acted in the same manner if he had not been drinking.

However defence witness Dr. Gavin Tennant, the ex-consultant psychiatrist at St. Brendan's Hospital, had testified that, in his opinion, it was alcohol which had pushed Williams over the edge.

Dr. Tennant had also accepted the fact that Williams was not mentally retarded under cross examination, she said.

During the trial, the court heard that Williams left the Spinning Wheel night club where he had been drinking and went looking for a house to break into so he could steal money.

He told Police that he broke into Mrs. Parker's home through a rear porch window and looked for money in the dark.

When he could not find any, he told Police he climbed into the sleeping woman's bed and tried to have intercourse with her but she woke up screaming.

Williams said he grabbed a pillow and held it on her face until she stopped moving and fled.

Williams told Police: "It happened real fast. I don't care what anyone thinks. I didn't mean to kill her.''