Crack-crazed torture killers jailed for life
TWO burglars who murdered a vulnerable man by tying him up, gagging him and torturing him in his Batley home have been jailed for at least 48 years.
Craig Stanton and Alexander Mackay worked as a ‘team’ to kill Saleem Butt while high on crack cocaine.
The 61-year-old victim’s body was found face down in the hallway of his home on Hyrstlands Road.
His hands had been tied behind his back with rope that continued up his back, over his shoulder and around his neck where it was knotted.
Jurors were told Stanton and Mackay’s motive was financial gain and Mr Butt was likely tortured for the pin numbers for his bank cards.
Stanton, 42, and Mackay, 46, were unanimously found guilty of murdering Mr Butt after a trial.
Leeds Crown Court heard the killing is likely to have taken place in the early hours of April 23 this year.
Stanton, of Harold Wilson Court in Huddersfield town centre, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years.
Mackay, of School Crescent, Dewsbury Moor, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years.
Prosecutor Peter Moulson QC told jurors: “He lived there alone – various frailties rendered him in overarching terms to be described as vulnerable. Mr Butt was subjected to a violent assault.
“He had sites of multiple blunt force trauma to his head, suggesting a weapon or weapons had been used by his assailants. There was evidence suggestive of strangulation, and gagging of his mouth.”
One of the men may have climbed through an open window in order to get into the property as glove marks were found on a kitchen window.
The victim’s body was found at 8pm later the same day and he was pronounced dead by paramedics.
Phone evidence suggested that the fatal attack took place in the early hours of the morning.
A neighbour stated that Mr Butt usually played loud music in the mornings but it was not heard on the day of his death.
He was found wearing shorts and a T-shirt. The pockets in the shorts had been turned inside out, indicating a search for items of value, cash or bank cards had been carried out.
A post-mortem examination revealed Mr Butt had suffered multiple blunt force impacts to the head and deep facial bruising.
Pressure had been applied to his neck from the nylon rope that had been wrapped around his neck and knotted in such a way to also bind his wrists.
The jury was told the rope had been taken from the garden and was the same type Mr Butt used to tie up plants.
Forensic evidence indicated that attempts had been made to clean blood from the scene. Fabric marks as the scene also indicated Stanton and Mackay had been wearing gloves.
Stanton’s home was searched on April 30 and a pair of shorts were recovered which contained Mr Butt’s DNA.
Telephone and CCTV evidence also linked the defendants to the murder.
Two days after the killing, Mackay sent Stanton a text message that read: “No comment all the way mate.”