A lodger who stabbed to death and mutilated a pub landlord for sadistic gratification and to humiliate his victim has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years.
The mutilated body of Scott Gilhooly, 44, was discovered at the Swiss Bell pub in Braintree, Essex, on May 17 last year.
His friend and heavy drinker Lawrence Bourke, 24, was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court on Friday after previously pleading guilty to murder.
Despite his heavy drinking the landlord put up with Bourke s behaviour and they lived together through the first coronavirus lockdown. (Pictured, Laurence Bourke)
Prosecutor Andrew Jackson told the court that Bourke attacked the landlord with a knife and axe, and dismembered his body to humiliate him.
During the sentencing, Judge Samantha Leigh said: “There were cleaning programmes on the computer, programmes freely available and freely purchased. “Compared to other cases we see these are relatively low numbers of images, but that doesn’t mean that these don’t show abuse. “The children have to live with that for the rest of their lives. “One image is always too many.” Mitigating, Sasha Bailey recommended the court impose a community order for Bednarski. Judge Leigh imposed an order for three years, and also imposed a sexual harm prevention order, meaning Bednarski will be required to register his devices with the police.
During the sentencing, Judge Samantha Leigh said: “There were cleaning programmes on the computer, programmes freely available and freely purchased. “Compared to other cases we see these are relatively low numbers of images, but that doesn’t mean that these don’t show abuse. “The children have to live with that for the rest of their lives. “One image is always too many.” Mitigating, Sasha Bailey recommended the court impose a community order for Bednarski. Judge Leigh imposed an order for three years, and also imposed a sexual harm prevention order, meaning Bednarski will be required to register his devices with the police.