Petrol murderer's appeal refused

Clarke, Stewart and Chandler were sentenced at Norwich Crown Court

A man jailed for life for murdering a Norfolk student who was doused with petrol and set alight has failed to have his sentence reduced.

The badly burned body of Simon Everitt, 17, was found near his home town of Great Yarmouth in June 2008.

Jonathan Clarke, 20, from Telford, Shropshire, and two others were sentenced to life in June this year after a jury convicted them of murder.

Judges at the Criminal Appeal Court refused to lessen Clarke's sentence.

Horror movie link

He asked the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, Mrs Justice Rafferty and Mr Justice Henriques to reduce the minimum term of 27 years in light of his youth.

The judge was entitled to conclude that this was a sadistic killing, young as he was Lord Judge, Criminal Appeal Court

Clarke was 19 when Simon was tied to a tree and doused in petrol before being set on fire.

The trial at Norwich Crown Court heard his killing was copied from a scene in 2006 British horror movie "Severance", which Clarke had watched 15 months before the murder.

Jurors were told Simon had been involved in a relationship with 19-year-old Fiona Statham, as had two of his killers, Clarke and 25-year-old Jimi-Lee Stewart, from Great Yarmouth.

Both men told the trial that they "hated" their victim.

The third involved in the murder was 40-year-old Maria Chandler, from Great Yarmouth.

She was said to have been the best friend of Ms Statham, but disliked how Simon Everitt had treated her.

'Youth in mind'

Lawyers for Clarke argued his minimum term was "over the top" for one so young, and also claimed that the sentencing judge did not have sufficient grounds on which to conclude that it was a sadistic, planned killing.

Rejecting the sentence appeal, Lord Judge said: "It is clear on these facts that the judge was entitled to conclude that this was a sadistic killing, young as he was.

"We are not in a position to say that it had been planned since he watched the film 15 months earlier - that is a finding too far.

"The immediate trigger for the animosity, the relationship between the girl and the other young men, had yet to develop.

"But we can see no reason whatsoever to disagree with the judge's view.

"The judge had the fact of this man's youth in mind and we cannot see that this appellant has the slightest grounds for complaint at the minimum term."