A Shropshire murderer who was today starting a life sentence for killing a teenager was the ringleader behind a “horrific execution” which involved “grotesque brutality”, prosecutors said.
See also: Killer Clarke boasted of murder
Jonathan Clarke, of Queen Elizabeth Way, Malinslee, Telford, was the “instigator” of the murder of Simon Everitt who was kidnapped and taken to woods in Norfolk where he was tied to a tree, doused in fuel and set on fire.
The 17-year-old student was left to burn to death as Clarke, 20, and his two friends, Jimi-Lee Stewart and Maria Chandler, both from Great Yarmouth, fled the scene.
The three were convicted of murder last month.
All three were given life sentences at Norwich Crown Court yesterday, with Clarke ordered to serve at least 27 years before being considered for parole.
Mr Everitt’s stepmother, Susan, said the killers were “evil”.
And the detective who led the inquiry, Detective Chief Inspector Steve Strong, said: “It is the sort of thing you might associate with gangsters or a godfather community.”
But he said the police were satisfied with the sentences.
Vince Everitt, Mr Everitt’s father, told police in a victim impact statement he had a “horrendous time” dealing with the murder of his son.
The statement, read out in court by Mr Justice David Calvert-Smith, said he had struggled to come to terms with the “horror of what happened”.
Clarke’s girlfriend and the mother of his children, Kerri Glover, of Sutton Hill, Telford, has vowed to stand by him.
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