‘Trusting and generous’ mother murdered by homeless man she tried to help

A “trusting and generous” woman was beaten to death with a mallet by a homeless man two days after she had invited him into her home, a court has heard.

Victoria Adams, 37, was found dead at her flat in Hammersmith, west London, on February 9 after police were called to a report of a man attempting to break in to the property in Coulter Road.

She was found face down in a bedroom with a black bin bag over her head which was covered by a pillow.

Ms Adams had suffered at least 10 separate injuries to the back and side of the head from being struck with a mallet.

Homeless Apapale Adoum, 39, pleaded guilty to her murder and appeared at the Old Bailey on Thursday.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Ms Adams’s aunt Cathy Adams said: “Vicky was very trusting, generous to a fault, caring and fun-loving.

“Vicky tried to repay the kindness she had been shown by others and she paid for this with her life.

“She was a woman in her prime who had her whole life in front of her.

“We remember Vicky’s love of the colour pink which Vicky would wear at every opportunity.”

She said the family felt “an awful sense of sadness” that her last moments were spent with her killer.

Younger sister Sophie Luff said: “The day I found out she was gone I was in complete shock.

“A few hours later I learned she hadn’t just died, she had been murdered in her own home by a man she barely knew, a man she was only trying to help.

“The hardest part is knowing she left behind four beautiful children. It breaks my heart to knew they will grow up without her. She didn’t deserve this, no-one does.”

She added her older sibling was still young with “so much” to give, but her life had been taken away by “one man’s selfish actions”.

The court heard Adoum had met mother-of-four Ms Adams on February 6 at a homeless shelter.

She had invited him to stay with her but later wrote a note to ask him to leave.

Prosecutor John Price KC said the defendant had a history of violence and was carrying two knives and screwdrivers when he was arrested at the scene.

He told the court: “It is the prosecution case Ms Adams allowed this defendant to stay at her home on February 7 as he had nowhere to live and thought he would offer her some protection from local drug dealers who were threatening her at the time.

“She came to regret it, probably because he is by nature violently unpredictable and she may well have become frightened of him.

“On afternoon of February 9 – two days after they met – he attacked and killed her because she asked him to move out of her home.”

Police had found Ms Adams’s body after a neighbour became concerned at Adoum’s repeated attempts to get back into her flat through a communal door.

On being arrested, Adoum asked officers: “Am I going to get the rest of my stuff from upstairs?”

Police later pieced together what happened using CCTV footage, financial reports, traffic cameras and data from digital devices.

The defendant’s fingerprint was found on the black bin bag covering the victim’s face and a mallet was found in Adoum’s suitcase with traces of Ms Adams’s blood on it.

Mr Price said bloodstaining in the kitchen sink suggested he had tried to clean the murder weapon.

It was said on his behalf that drug user Adoum had attacked Ms Adams in a “blind rage” and the prospect of becoming homeless again was a significant factor.

The court heard Adoum had a history of violence against women. In 2018 he broke a woman’s jaw and gave her a black eye, and in 2024 he attacked two female prison officers, punching one of them in the face, knocking her out.

In an outburst in the dock, Adoum denied being a woman beater, saying: “I’m just violent. That’s my problem. I’m a bad man for that, don’t make me out to be a coward.”

Judge Nigel Lickley KC paused the sentencing hearing and sent the defendant out of the dock to calm down.