Norma Bell murder: Gareth Dack sentenced to 33 years in prison

Gareth Dack strangled Norma Bell at her Hartlepool home in April last year – a month short of her 80th birthday – and then attempted to blow it up.

The penniless father-of-four used a telephone cable to kill the 79-year-old – whom he had known since childhood – and then rang sex chat lines after she lay dead or dying.

He then stole £700 and a boxed 49-inch TV, which he sold to a friend for £60. He had borrowed £10 from his victim the week before.

He left the premises the next day after starting two fires and leaving the gas on in the kitchen of the home Mrs Bell had lived in for 27 years.

But his attempt to blow up the house failed and his DNA was found on a used match in the kitchen, inside Mrs Bell’s handbag and on the cable around her neck.

Her mobile phone was found in the garage of Dack’s parents’ home further down Westbourne Road.

The victim, described as a woman who had a “heart as big as a lion”, had fostered more than 50 children.

Dack was convicted of her murder and arson at Teesside Crown Court on Wednesday following a three-week trial.

The jury heard Dack considered the widow, who lost her husband in 2010, to be a “soft touch”.

Trial judge Mrs Justice Whipple told him: “You killed Norma Bell in cold blood in her own home when she was defenceless.

“She had done nothing to deserve your violence, then you set fire to her home in a failed attempt to cover your tracks.”

The Bells had three sons and were parents to six long-term foster children.

The court heard statements from some of the children the couple had fostered.

One child described them as “amazing parents”, while another said she had been bullied for being fostered, but “mam told me to be proud of who I was and said I was a chosen child, and I should be proud of that and not ashamed”.

Her family said in a statement: “Her murder has left an enormous gap in our lives and forgiveness will never be given.”