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| Petrol murderers jailed for life | Petrol murderers jailed for life |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Three people who tied up a student, doused him in petrol and set him alight have been jailed for life for murder. | |
| Simon Everitt's body was found near his home town of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in June 2008, three weeks after he was reported missing. | Simon Everitt's body was found near his home town of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in June 2008, three weeks after he was reported missing. |
| At Norwich Crown Court, Jonathan Clarke, 20, from Telford, Shropshire, was sentenced to at least 27 years. | |
| Jimi-Lee Stewart, 25, and Maria Chandler, 40, of Great Yarmouth, must serve 22 and 17 years respectively. | |
| All three had pleaded not guilty but were convicted following a trial in May, when a jury heard the 17-year-old victim had been beaten and had petrol poured down his throat. | |
| Horror film | |
| Clarke, of Elizabeth Way, Telford, was 19 at the time he murdered the student. | |
| His sister Christina told jurors he said he had tricked Mr Everitt into going with him to the scene of the attack. | |
| During the trial jurors were played a scene from the British horror film Severance in which a character was shown tied to a tree. | |
| In the movie a man is shown throwing petrol over and setting light to his victim. | |
| Prosecutors claimed the student, who was originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, suffered a fate inspired by that scene. | |
| The motive for the killing was said to be the victim's relationship with 19-year-old Fiona Statham. | |
| Both Clarke and Stewart, of Nelson Road in Great Yarmouth, had been involved with Ms Statham. | |
| Meanwhile Chandler, of Lancaster Road, was accused of being involved because she disliked the way Mr Everitt treated his girlfriend. | |
| Simon Everitt's body was found three weeks after he went missing | |
| The three defendants assaulted and kidnapped the engineering student, driving him to woodland in Mautby. | |
| He was then "interrogated" by Stewart who believed his victim had slept with Ms Statham. | |
| Stewart said he poured petrol all over Mr Everitt, including down his throat, but told the court he was "shocked" when Clarke lit a match and set fire to their captive. | |
| Hours later, he said, the three returned to Mautby where the body was buried in a ditch. | |
| Ms Statham had reported the murder victim missing and his body was found on 28 June, 2008. | |
| It took investigators a week to identify the remains. | |
| Speaking after the guilty verdicts in May, Det Ch Insp Steve Strong, of Norfolk Police, said: "Without doubt it is one of the most horrific murders Norfolk Constabulary has ever been faced with. | |
| "This was not the result of impulsive behaviour, but a planned abduction and execution in the most awful manner. | |
| "Of course I am very pleased that we have had a very successful outcome, but nobody wants to have to deal with the worst cases of human cruelty which this case has identified." |