A MAN has been jailed for life for the ‘savage and brutal’ killing of a gentle and kind man who gave him shelter.

Stuart Hodgkin, pictured below, leeched off his victim Adrian Munday, pictured right, after being offered shelter and beat and stamped him to death when his money ran out and there was nothing left to steal.

He tried to cover up the killing by building a fire over Adrian’s body and igniting it with lighter fluid, but the fire did not take hold and an autopsy revealed it was a murder.

Hodgkin is suffering from terminal cancer and is likely to die in prison within a year after he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years at Exeter Crown Court.

Adrian’s family crowded into the public gallery and gave victim impact statements which revealed how their lived have been devastated by his killing.

Adrian, aged 51, suffered brain damage as a child and was schizophrenic. He was a well known figure around his home town of Newton Abbot, where he was known as a gentle giant.

Homeless Hodgkin, aged 41, of Stockbridge Road, Winchester, but originally from Basingstoke, denied murder but was found guilty after a two week trial.

He was jailed for life by Judge Graham Cottle, who acknowledged that the minimum term of 20 years was academic in the light of hospital reports which show Hodgkin has only a year to live.

He told him:”Adrian Munday was a decent, good man, whose first instinct was to trust people and to see the best in them. He also suffered from a severe mental illness.

“This combination made him a very vulnerable and always likely to be exploited.

“He suffered 20 rib fractures and fractured breast bone and there was damage to his brain.”

After the case Adrian’s family joined senior investigating officer Detective Constable Mike West on the steps on the court, where he read out a statement on their behalf.

He said: “Our family were shocked and devastated by the callous and brutal murder of Adrian, our loving and beloved son, brother and uncle.

“Adrian’s long-term mental health issues, coupled with his kind, caring and unusually trusting nature, made him particularly vulnerable.

“However after a lengthy period of supported care he was finally living independently, and we were very hopeful for his future.

“Adrian had the misfortune to meet up with Hodgkin, an incredibly manipulative and violent man, who immediately took advantage of Adrian’s kindness and inability to stand up for himself.

“His death has left a great hole in our lives. Adrian is deeply, deeply missed, and always will be.”