KILLER Adrian Howker was today starting a life sentence after he was found guilty of murdering Burnley man 'Gypsy' John Russell.

Howker, 32, was convicted by a unanimous jury at Preston Crown Court after just over an hour-and-a-half deliberation.

Sentencing him to serve a minimum term of 17 years in jail Judge Peter Openshaw QC said Howker was a 'determined and cunning' killer who had shown great savagery in the slaying of Mr Russell.

Howker, of Hawthorne Road, Burnley, had admitted manslaughter but denied murder at the start of the trial.

However, the jury rejected his claim that he had been provoked into killing John Russell after the older man told him he had sexually abused his step-daughter and Howker's girlfriend Dawn Pinches when she was a teenager.

Instead they found the killing was a pre-planned and deliberate murder.

Howker went to the pensioner's home in Narvik Avenue, Burnley, on the afternoon of December 16 last year armed with a knife and carrying a disposable glove.

Once at the house Howker attacked John Russell, stabbing him several times in the heart and cutting his throat before stamping and kicking his head. After he had killed him he escaped in Mr Russell's Vauxhall Meriva car, which was later found later abandoned and blood-stained in the remote Thursden Valley.

The jury heard Howker killed Mr Russell because the younger man held a grudge against the grandfather, who refused to accept him as his daughter's new partner following the break-up of her marriage.

He had also determined to kill him after hearing of the alleged sexual abuse during Dawn Pinches' teenage years.

Mr Russell's body was found later the same evening by Dawn Pinches' former husband, Nick Pinches and the police were called.

A post mortem examination showed he had been stabbed eight times with three of the stab wounds penetrating the heart. He also had facial injuries and cuts to his arms, hands and throat.

After the killing Howker returned home where he washed his clothes and showered before unsuccessfully attempting to burn the bloodstained Vauxhall Meriva and then going out to work the door at Burnley's Garden Bar.

The court heard Mr Russell's blood had been found in the Vauxhall Meriva, which also contained a blood-stained disposable glove. The victim's blood was also found in Howker's shower and on the stairs at his home.

Five days after the killing he walked into Burnley police station and was charged with murder.

After the case Det Insp Steve Chard, who helped lead the murder investigation, said: "Lancashire Constabulary are pleased with the decision of the court in finding Adrian Howker guilty of murder. This was a dreadful and appalling crime committed against John Russell in his own home.

"Our thoughts and feelings are with the deceased's wife, Lesley Russell, who has suffered a great deal of upset over the death and during the trial."