Teenage killer must stay in jail

A teenage killer, who battered his mother to death with a bottle, has been told he must serve at least 10 years in custody.

Simon Geldart armed himself with a bottle of sparkling wine and a computer cable after an argument and struck his mother repeatedly while she slept in March 1998.

Geldart, now 22, claimed the 10-year jail term was too harsh.

But the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, refused to lower the 10-year tariff - the term he must serve before being eligible for parole.

Lord Woolf said Geldart had proved a "quiet and industrious prisoner", since being convicted of his mother Kathleen's murder at Teesside Crown Court in 1999.

Lord Woolf said he recognised Geldart's progress while in custody.

But he said he had to take into account the strongly-held views of his mother's family, who had argued against Geldart's eligibility for early release.

Lord Woolf said there was "evidence that Geldart loved his mother" and was very distressed and remorseful from the outset.