Lewis Finch smashed Geoffrey Pearce’s skull with a pickaxe handle before choking him to death with a cable tie and then setting fire to his caravan in Newton Poppleford, Devon

Lewis Finch battered Geoffrey Pearce’s head with a pickaxe handle, before strangling him with a plastic cable tie, a court heard.

Finch then set fire to the caravan in Newton Poppleford, Devon, with the 47-year-old still inside.

Judge Peter Johnson today jailed Finch for life and said he had formed a ‘construction of lies’ in a bid to reduce his sentence.

The killer claimed Mr Pearce had sexually abused him from the age of about 12 onwards, although his claims remain unproven, Devon Live previously reported.

He said he had ‘lost control’ of his actions and killed the scrap dealer because he was haunted by the alleged abuse, however a jury rejected his defence.