Smith, Joanne Lee

Attended the Oak Lodge School for Deaf Children in Wandsworth. Already had several previous convictions for violence, larceny and burglary when arrested and tried for the burglary and murder of a 65-year-old man in collaboration with a deaf brother-in-law, Barry John Smith (q.v.) and a hearing teenager. A first trial collapsed over the issue of qualified court interpreters for the deaf, but a second trial found all 3 guilty of burglary and of killing the old man when he surprised them in the act. Joanne Smith and the teenager were found guilty of murder, Barry Smith of manslaughter. She was jailed for life, the teenager jailed indefinitely subject to review because he was a juvenile, and Barry Smith to 8 years' imprisonment.