Disabled man's killers jailed
Two killers who stamped to death a disabled man, stripped him and then stole his false leg were “relishing” what they did, a judge in Britain said today.
Roy Bush, 44, was kicked and punched in his flat in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, in March last year.
Joe Harrison, 27, who admitted murder, was jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years at Teesside Crown Court.
Judge Peter Fox, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, sentenced Liam Campbell, 26, to life with a minimum of 21 years after he was convicted following a trial.
They stripped their victim and removed his leg as a final humiliation, leaving him dead or dying before dumping the false limb in woods nearby, along with other items they had stolen.
Campbell, of Kingston View, Barton-upon-Humber, was convicted following a trial at Teesside Crown Court on Friday.
Harrison, of Bennett Road, Scunthorpe, admitted murder before the trial began.
Campbell’s defence that his drink may have been spiked as he had no recollection of the vicious attack was rejected by a majority of 11-1.
During the trial, it was raised in evidence that one of the killers may have called Mr Bush a “nonce” during the attack, and there were rumours that Mr Bush was a paedophile, but he had no convictions for any sex offence against a child.
Judge Fox said: “The late Roy Bush suffered a death that was quite horrible.
“Having obtained entry (to his flat) you both set upon him viciously.
“It was a sustained, prolonged attack.
“He died because of your kickings, stampings to and upon his head but there were other gratuitous additions. While he was on the ground, you were breaking his ribs.
“You subjected him if not to dismemberment then to something very close to it.
“It certainly falls within the description of a gross indignity, being stripped naked with your removal of his prosthetic leg.
“He was still alive at that point.
“It was plain that very shortly afterwards that you were relishing what you had done.
“You were demonstrating how you were running and jumping and planting with both feet upon him, plainly enjoying such a dreadful thing to do.”
The judge said their “perceived view” was Mr Bush had a “sexual orientation towards young children”.
