Two brothers jailed for murder of Stockport man

Two brothers have been jailed for life for the murder of a man whose decapitated body was set alight in a town centre.

John Grainger, 33 was severely beaten, hit on the head with a hammer, stabbed in the legs, shot in the knee and then in the head at point blank range at a flat in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

After he was gunned down with a sawn-off shotgun, his body was taken to the bathroom where his body was decapitated with an electric jigsaw, a jury at Manchester Crown Court was told.

Joseph Jenkins, 30, denied murder but was today convicted of the offence.

His brother, Anthony 31, had pleaded guilty to the same charge at an earlier hearing.

Joseph Jenkins was jailed for a minimum of 32 years and Anthony Jenkins for a minimum of 30 years.

Prosecutor Graham Reeds QC said the body of Mr Grainger was put in a holdall and the head placed in a bag which Joseph and Anthony Jenkins carried from the scene of the murder at the brothers' flat in Covent Gardens.

They took a can of petrol with them which was used to set alight the body of Mr Grainger in nearby Wellington Street in the early hours of January 26 this year.

Mr Reeds said Mr Grainger had a "difficult upbringing" and had consequently lived rough and spent time in prison.

His sister said though he was "very sociable and friendly" and thought he was getting his life on track after securing his first flat in the Victoria Park area of Stockport.

He went out for a drink on the evening of January 25 and came across the brothers in the Egerton Arms where they were known to be regulars.

Mr Reeds said there appeared to be some connection between the three men and they later went on to the Bakers Vault pub and then the XXL nightclub, formerly known as Pure.

They were seen on CCTV leaving the club at about 1.45am and heading in the direction of the defendant's flat less than 300 metres away.

Some three hours later a passer-by noticed something was alight in Wellington Street and raised the alarm.

By "complete coincidence" the defendant and his brother were stopped by police about one kilometre away in Edgeley at about the same time, said the prosecutor.

Officers had been dealing with an unconnected report of two youths acting suspiciously in the area.

Anthony Jenkins was found to have six live shotgun cartridges in his pocket and blood was seen on a pair of white trainers he wore.

The shotgun said to have been used to kill Mr Grainger was found the next day underneath a parked car close to where both had been stopped in the street.

Mr Reeds said the victim's body was identified by fingerprints.

A post-mortem examination showed that Mr Grainger may still have been alive before he was shot in the head.

The prosecutor said both brothers had actively participated in the murder and disposal of the body, regardless of who carried out each action.

Following sentence, senior investigating officer Andy Tattersall from the Major Incident Team said: "The Jenkins brothers put Mr Grainger through a horrifically violent and cruel attack before shooting him. What followed was nothing short of macabre."

Chief Superintendent Chris Sykes from Greater Manchester Police's Stockport Division said: "The gap left by Mr Grainger's untimely death has proved impossible to fill but I hope this sentence goes a little way in helping his loved ones get on with their lives.

"The officer who was initially at the scene and his colleague displayed intuition and professionalism which led to two dangerous individuals being located and arrested at a very early stage before we were aware of Mr Grainger's murder."