A JUDGE has praised the painstaking police work which brought callous killer Stuart Hodgkin to justice.

Judge Graham Cottle commended the team which investigated the murder of Adrian Munday and built up an overwhelming case against him.

The judge praised the hard work of detectives Chris James, Esther Gould and Joanne Thompson, who put the case together.

He said: ’I should like to acknowledge the work that was carried out by the team of police officers who were involved in the investigation.

’They have spent many hours piecing together the events leading up to and surrounding the death of Adrian Munday and that should be acknowledged officially.’

The police team searched through CCTV footage from the streets of Newton Abbot and bank security camera images from Devon and Basingstoke to build up a picture of how Hodgkin had become a human parasite, leeching on Adrian and exploiting his vulnerability.

The images also showed Hodgkin’s movements immediately after he killed Adrian and set off from his home on foot through Newton Abbot before eventually taking a train from Torre station in Torquay to return to his home town of Basingstoke.

The police were able to establish the time of the killing because a neighbour heard the smoke alarm from Adrian’s house at 3am on Sunday, October 4, meaning the fire which Hodgkin lit over the body must have been set before that time.

The CCTV showed Hodgkin leaving the house shortly after midnight, making it certain he was the killer.

Fire investigators found that a duvet and other material had been piled on the body on the lounge floor and then set alight with the contents of two cans of Zippo lighter fluid.

Hodgkin’s fingerprint was found on one can and his DNA on a knife which was used to puncture the other.

Adrian’s blood was found on one of Hodgkin’s trainers which was found upstairs in the house. Hodgkin’s palm print was found traced in Adrian’s blood on an estate agent’s leaflet which was found partially burned near the fire.

A heavily bloodstained copy of a local newspaper was found in the rubbish bin.

Adrian died as a result of head and chest injuries including 20 cracked ribs, which would have compressed his upper body and made it impossible for him to breathe.

There was no smoke or soot in his lungs, meaning he was definitely dead at the time the fire was lit. The cause of death was blunt force trauma.

Speaking alongside members of Adrian’s family the senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Mike West stressed how vulnerable the ’gentle giant’ had been.

He said Hodgkin was ’a manipulative career criminal’ who had used psychological and physical threats and force to take over Adrian’s life and enable him to steal all his money.

He said: ’During the week before Adrian’s death he stole money and made Adrian sell his most prized possessions. When he thought the bottomless pit had dried up, he savagely beat Adrian to death.

’In an effort to destroy the forensic evidence and avoid capture, he set fire to the body and made his escape, but it within 24 hours of this being identified as a murder, he was arrested.

’I hope the life sentence will provide a degree of closure for this family, who have supported the investigation throughout and acted with great dignity.’