TWO Fylde men who "savagely slaughtered" a witchcraft fanatic in a frenzied attack on remote moorland have been jailed for life.

Daniel Delker, 24, of Shackleton Road in Freckleton, and David Sandham, also 24, of The Croft in Cleveleys, were sentenced to life for the murder of James Bowman, at Leeds Crown Court on Thursday, May 15.

The body of Mr Bowman, a 44-year-old self-styled Wiccan priest, of no fixed abode, was found on a hillside at Cornholme in West Yorkshire, where he had been camping last September.

Mr Bowman, who originally came from Carlisle in Cumbria, had been viciously bludgeoned and stabbed with an assortment of weapons including fists, sticks, rocks and a knife.

He suffered more than 80 injuries.

The court heard how Delker and Sandham -- who both pleaded not guilty -- had purposely gone out looking for their victim who was homeless after the breakdown of his relationship with Delker's mother, Melanie Payne, two days earlier.

It was claimed the pair originally intended to warn Mr Bowman to keep away from Mrs Payne, but this developed into a vicious attack during which the pair repeatedly beat him about the head.

Following a majority guilty verdict, Mr Justice Gage, was told how Sandham was jailed aged 17, over the death of his 19-year-old brother, Tony, who was stabbed in the heart after a row over the washing-up in April 1996.

Sandham -- who lived on London Street in Fleetwood at the time of the killing -- was found guilty of manslaughter and served a five-year prison sentence.

Sentencing Sandham and Delker, Justice Gage said: "You both savagely slaughtered him Mr Bowman, beating him about the head with fists, sticks and rocks.

"I'm quite satisfied that one of you had a knife.

"It matters not which one of you had the knife.

"You share equally the blame for this dreadful crime."

A third defendant, Delker's brother Nicholas Grundy, of Ernest Street, Cornholme, was acquitted of murder by the judge earlier in the trial.