Great Yarmouth murderer who barbecued his clothes after fatal attack handed life sentence
A man who killed his victim by kicking him in the face and was then found by police burning his clothes on a barbecue has been jailed for life.
Martin Montgomery kicked Nigel Mazs after finding him smoking drugs outside his home in Norfolk on the morning of 22 December last year.
The kick caused the 59-year-old to fall backwards and hit his head on concrete - causing a catastrophic brain injury. He died 13 days later in Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.
On Tuesday, 31-year-old Montgomery of Malakoff Close, Great Yarmouth, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 12 years.
Watch the moment Norfolk Police officers arrest Martin Montgomery as he burns his victim's clothes on a barbecue (Video: Norfolk Police)
Video footage of the moments officers arrived to arrest Montgomery - at that stage for assault as Mr Mazs was in hospital - was released by Norfolk Police.
It showed officers inspecting a barbecue in a courtyard outside a friend's house in which Montgomery had tried to burn the clothes he was wearing during the attack.
When officers came to arrest him his only response was "fair enough”.
Montgomery had previously denied murder but admitted to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
However, after a nine-day trial, he was unanimously found guilty of murder on Friday.
Mr Mazs' family told the court how he had faced personal struggles in a victim impact statement read out in court.
They said he had sought solace in substances after a difficult start in life and was loved by his family who remembered his "cheeky sense of humour and sweet, boyish grin".
They said: "Apart from our grief and sadness that he is gone, we are each drowning in the pain caused by the violence and brutality that caused his death.
“He didn’t slip away peacefully in a hospice or quietly on his own terms, he was ripped from us because somebody saw him as just another drug user."
Addressing Montgomery, they said: "You took our Nigel away from us and caused his last conscious moments to be pain and sadness, and you also took away the hope that one day he would be able to recover from his addictions and live a beautiful life free from his pain."
Det Insp Alix Wright said: “We hope the guilty verdict and today’s sentencing brings some level of closure to Nigel’s family.
“This was a despicable and totally unwarranted act of violence towards a man Montgomery did not know and was in no way being aggressive towards him.
“He has now been held accountable for his actions of murder.”
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