BARRIE

She had a devious plan to take his will, his home and everything he owned, but in the end Margaret Lee Cole will get nothing but a life behind bars for the murder of 82-year-old Richard Humble.

A jury found Cole, 50, of Washago, guilty of first-degree murder Thursday after only two days of deliberations.

Cole was temporarily caring for Humble, also of Washago, who had knee surgery. In the short five or six weeks she knew him, Cole accessed his files, forged his will and power of attorney documents, and deposited $65,000 of his forged cheques into her account, court heard.

She then drugged the trusting old man with her own anti-anxiety medication, “but when that didn’t work, she set his house on fire,” Crown attorney Mike Flosman said.

While the jury was spared horrific photos showing Humble’s burned body, court heard how neighbours risked their lives April 9, 2011 by going into the burning, smoking house when they heard his drugged and feeble cries of “help me, help me.”

He died “horribly” of his burns hours later, court heard.

Cole was in debt and “desperate for cash” after spending an insurance claim of about $500,000 received when her own home burned to the ground in 2009, Flosman told the jury.

But from the very beginning, police were on her trail.

During an OPP interview two weeks later, Cole told the officer she “made the mistake” of visiting Humble at the hospital after he was dead and saw his burned body.

“I have nightmares about it,” she said.

She then tried to convince Det. Scott Johnston that Humble wanted her to be the beneficiary of his will and estate.

“It’s what he wanted,” said Cole. “He thought of me as a daughter.” But when Johnston told her witnesses spotted her at the scene moments before the fire, Cole bristled and got up to leave.

“I have not seen a single tear from you,” noted Johnston. “When you go to sleep at night, you think of his burned body and remember — you’re responsible.”

“Ya, well, I’m not a murderer,” she says.

Outside of court, Humble’s nephew Kevin Pearce, who travelled from England with his wife to sit in on the trial, said he still grieves for his uncle.

“Uncle Dick didn’t deserve to die this way,” he said. “It’s mind-boggling that someone could do this.” He described his uncle as a proud, sprightly, independent man. Humble was a marine engineer from Sunderland, England who worked on navy ships and travelled the world before coming to Canada to work on the fire boats in Toronto for 22 years.

He retired to the rural area of Washago because he loved nature and peacefulness, said Pearce.

“He was extremely proud to be Canadian,” his nephew said. “He thought this was the best place on the planet.”