Axe murderer gets life

A Stoke-on-Trent man who beat his former housemate to death with an axe has been jailed for life.

Dean Brindley, 34, was found guilty of murder at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday after a trial lasting nearly two weeks.

The jury had been told how Brindley savagely attacked John Burton at a house they used to share in Sun Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.

Brindley, who had pleaded not guilty to murder, also tied up Mr Burton's former girlfriend, Emma Collins, who was eight months pregnant at the time.

Miss Collins, who was sleeping in the house when the attack was carried out, told the court how Brindley had restrained her when she went investigate the sound of muffled screams.

The court heard that she found Mr Burton's badly beaten body once she had broken free.

After Friday's verdict, Maureen Shea from the Crown Prosecution Service said Brindley was guilty of a callous attack.

She added that there was no evidence to suggest Mr Burton had been able to defend himself.