A JUDGE has described a Bridlington man and his nephew, who battered a widowed farmer to death in his own home, as liars without mercy.
Gary Smith, 21, will serve a minimum of 22 years, while his nephew Frankie Parker, 26, will serve at least 24 years after both were given life sentences for killing Llywelyn Thomas, 76, with a crowbar during a burglary at his Chittering home on December 17, 2011.
Smith, originally from Bridlington but lately living at a travellers' site in Chesterton, and Parker, of Nene Road, Ely, had both denied murdering Mr Thomas.
But this week, a jury at Cambridge Crown Court found both men guilty of murder after less than two hours of deliberations.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Singh, sentencing, said he was sure both defendants took part in the attack, with Parker using a crowbar on his victim and Smith stamping on and kicking him "no doubt egged on by Parker".
He told the court he believed most of what the defendants said during the trial was a "pack of lies" but one element that had "a ring of truth" was of Smith saying Mr Thomas kept saying his son would be home soon.
He said: "One can only imagine the desperation and fear Mr Thomas must have felt in what turned out to be the last minutes of his life.
"But Frankie Parker and Gary Smith showed him no mercy and left him unconscious lying in a pool of his own blood."
Opening the case earlier this month, prosecutor Karim Khalil told the court that Smith and Parker had raided Mr Thomas's home the previous night, carrying a crowbar.
After subjecting him to a "horrific" attack, they stole Mr Thomas's V-registration Rover car, which could not go above 20mph.
Mr Khalil said: "They set about their primary intended business of committing a burglary.
"Afterwards, instead of leaving Mr Thomas unhurt, perhaps even bound upstairs, they set about a savage beating – he did not stand a chance.
"There were signs of stamping, blood on the floor and doorways, and no defence injuries, so it seems that Mr Thomas was unable even to try to defend himself."
Father-of-one Mr Thomas, originally from South Wales, had lived alone since the death of his wife about ten years earlier.
Both men had insisted they played no part in the attack.
Smith said he had tried to stop his nephew, while Parker claimed he had been searching another room for valuables when the attack happened.
During the trial, it emerged that Smith had been jailed for a similar attack on a pensioner in her home in Kilham, East Yorkshire, on February 9 last year – just two months after the Chittering murder.
In that attack, he battered Angela Mayger, 73, with her own walking stick before stealing her car. He was jailed for five years for burglary and aggravated vehicle-taking at Hull Crown Court in June.
Smith was also convicted of robbery, while Parker admitted that charge.
John Smith, 67, of Woldgate, Bridlington, who is Gary Smith's father and Frankie Parker's grandfather was sentenced to two-and-a- half years for assisting an offender by providing a false alibi for his son, which he previously admitted.
After sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector George Barr, who led the Cambridgeshire investigation, said: "This was a savage murder of an elderly man in his own home.
"Smith and Parker are dangerous individuals and we are pleased they are now starting life sentences for this brutal murder of a man who posed no threat to him.
"Our thoughts are with Mr Thomas's son, Richard, and his family at this difficult time and hope today's convictions will provide them with some closure to this tragic event."
