TWO men from Wisbech, who killed a 70-year-old grandfather by pouring boiling water over him, have today been jailed for life.
Rocky Curtis, 25, of Newbridge Lane, will serve a minimum of 28 years, while Robert Michael Holmes, 24, of Redmoor Lane, will serve a minimum of 26 years for the murder of Sonny Grey.
The pair were convicted at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday after a two-week trial.
They attacked Mr Grey in his semi-detchaed Lincoln council house, at about 6.40pm on October 29, 2011, pouring boiling water over him and causing horrific scalding injuries.
The pair put a ligature around Mr Grey's neck to throttle him, before ransacking the property, stealing jewellery and leaving in a VW Touareg.
Mr Grey crawled out of his house in agony, to be found by family members a short time later.
He was treated at Lincoln County Hospital and the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham, but he died of his injuries on October 31, 2011.
A post mortem showed Mr Grey had 46 separate or groups of injuries to his body. The court heard that one of the victim's fingers was held in boiling water to make him reveal where he had hidden his savings.
A third man, Thomas Andrew Curtis, 30, of Newbridge Lane, Wisbech, was arrested in connection with the murder on December 19, 2011. He was recalled to prison in relation to other matters and subsequently died. The circumstances of his death are subject to an inquest.
Sentencing the pair, Mr Justice Saunders said that, although he made no finding against him, Thomas Curtis was the likely 'ring leader' in the attack. He treated the defendants as 'willing helpers'.
Det Supt Stuart Morrison, of Lincolnshire Police, said: 'This is an extremely significant sentence and it will send a very clear message to anyone committing violent crime in Lincolnshire and the rest of the East Midlands.
'This kind of mindless brutality will not be tolerated and we will use the staff and resources of the combined five forces in the East Midlands to bring to justice anyone committing such crimes.
'This was a horrendous attack on a 72-year-old man carried out by vicious thugs who used a horrific level of violence.
'Mr Grey died in a considerable amount of pain and this has caused his family an enormous amount of distress over that the last year or so.
'We hope this sentence offers them some small consolation that justice has been done and that they may now be able to start moving forward with their lives.'
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