Vicar's killer 'must serve 11 years'

Reverend Glazebrook was drowned and his body cut into pieces

A teenager who drowned a retired vicar in the bath and dismembered his body, must serve a minimum of 11 years, Appeal Court judges have ruled.

Three senior judges in London doubled the tariff imposed on Christopher Hunnisett, now 19, from Hastings, East Sussex, who was convicted last year of the murder of 81-year-old Reverend Ronald Glazebrook.

He must now serve a minimum of 11 years before he can be considered for parole.

Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting with Mr Justice Pitchers and Sir Michael Wright, agreed with the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith QC, that the minimum term of five-and-a half years fixed by the trial judge was "unduly lenient".

Head found in bag

Hunnisett was ordered to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure and sentenced to four years in a young offenders' institution, to run concurrently.

The teenager, who was 17 at the time of the offence, lodged with Mr Glazebrook in St Leonards, East Sussex.

It was there that he drowned the 81-year-old retired vicar in his bath in April 2001 and hacked the body into pieces, the trial at Lewes Crown Court heard last year.

Mr Glazebrook's severed head and limbs were found in a bag behind Summerfield Leisure Centre in Hastings and the torso off the A259 near Eastbourne.

Hunnisett was living as a lodger at the vicar's home in St Leonards

Hunnisett, who would have come up for his first parole hearing in just over four years under the original tariff, was in court for Thursday's hearing.

Lord Justice Kennedy said it had been argued on behalf of the Attorney General that a minimum term of five-and-a-half years failed to meet the gravity of the case.

He said the court was "satisfied" that the part of the sentence complained about was "unduly lenient".

The judges substituted the minimum term of 11 years.

Hunnisett had denied murder, but he and another teenager had pleaded guilty to conspiring to prevent the clergyman's lawful burial.

'Cold, callous act'

The prosecution case was that Hunnisett killed the vicar because he planned to evict him from his flat after being bullied by the teenager.

Counsel for the Attorney General told the Appeal Court it was a "dreadful case of its type".

Alison Saunders, chief crown prosecutor for East Sussex, said after the ruling: "The murder of Rev Ronald Glazebrook by Christopher Hunnisett was a cold, callous and calculated act and caused great pain and trauma for all the vicar's family and friends.

"We believed that the crime warranted a greater sentence and are pleased that the Appeal Court has endorsed that view."