The family of a King's Lynn man who was stabbed and hacked to death in a frenzied attack last night praised police and the court system for ensuring justice was done after his 'sadistic' killer was jailed for life.

Thirty-one year old David Williams was found dead at his home in Leicester Avenue, Gaywood, King's Lynn, after he had been attacked with weapons including a kitchen knife, samurai sword and a martial arts kendo stick.

His former lodger, Duane King, 28, of North Everard Street, King's Lynn, had denied murdering Mr Williams on March 11, this year, but was found guilty by a jury at Norwich Crown Court, which took just over four hours to return their verdict.

Judge Peter Jacobs, who jailed King for a minimum of 17 years before he can be considered for parole, said it had been a vicious attack on a man in his own home and must have been a 'truly horrific scene'.

King's mother wept and broke down and had to be helped out of court, following yesterday's verdict, but for the family of Mr Williams there was a sense of justice having been done.

A statement issued after the verdict said: 'We are very pleased with today's outcome and could not have asked for more from the Crown Prosecution Service and the police in what they have done to get justice for David's murder. We are very satisfied that the correct person has been found guilty.'

The court heard that King and his partner had lived for a short time with Mr Williams, but left after King alleged that Mr Williams had made a suggestive comment to his partner, asking her to go upstairs with him.

Mr Williams had also fallen out with a friend of King's called Danny Pearson over a cannabis deal and King had told his friend he would help him 'sort it out'.

Judge Jacobs also commended Norfolk police for their work on the investigation. He said: 'These cases are not easy to investigate. You were dealing here with a number of young men who were plainly frightened and had no history of cooperating with the police.' He said that the police had managed to 'tease out the truth'.

DCI Jes Fry, of Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team, who led the investigation, said after the case: 'This was a challenging investigation and I would like to thank the witnesses for their resolve and my staff for all their hard work. I welcome this conviction and hope that it brings some closure for all those involved.'

He added: 'This was a vicious assault, which was a huge overreaction to a perceived slight. Such a violent response resulted not only, tragically, in David's death, but will also have a massive ongoing impact on his family and friends.'

peter.walsh@archant.co.uk

Brutal killer kept arsenal of weapons at home, as crime correspondent PETER WALSH reports

Officers were confronted with a 'gruesome' scene as they discovered the body of David Williams cowered in the lounge of his home at Leicester Avenue, King's Lynn, after responding to concerns from the victim's mother.

The discovery prompted a murder investigation, which would lead detectives to Duane King, - a violent and aggressive man with a predilection for keeping 'scary' weapons.

After he was arrested, police found a chest of weapons, including bowie knives, flick knives, a crossbow, kitchen knives, hand guns and an air rifle, at King's address in North Everarded Street, together with a black Tt-shirt with blood on it, which matched that of Mr Williams'.

Ironically, it was not King's weapons that were to be used in the frenzied and brutal attack that would ultimately bring Mr Williams's life to such an abrupt end, but those belonging to the victim.

The trial heard from key witnesses and friends or associates of King. Theirwhose fear of the defendant prompted them to go to the police and alert them to King's confessions about what he had done.

They were right to be afraid. Charged with fury from the knowledge from his then girlfriend, who was pregnant, that Mr Williams had recently approached her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable, together with the fact he knew Mr Williams had smashed the window of his friend Danny Pearson's house over a reneged cannabis deal, King went to confront the victim and settle a score.

He had gone to teach him a lesson, - a lesson not only to Mr Williams, but to others that King was not a man to be messed with.

The lesson might have lasted for less than 20 minutes, but its repercussions were to be massive. last a lifetime not only for the victim but the defendant too.

Blood stains found at the property show the horrific attack probably started in the dining room, with King using weapons Mr Williams kept displayed hanging on the wall, including a kendo stick to get control, then the sword, which and leftfractured Mr Williams with a fractured skull.' skull.

Police believe Mr Williams then went into the hall where he tried to get to the front door in a desperate bid to escape, but was attacked again and fell to the ground. He then managed to crawl into the far end of the lounge where he curled up and was killed finished off by King, who stabbed him six or seven times.

King, who was born in London but moved to Norfolk in his early teens, then returneds to George Ndubisi's house, where he had been prior to the murder, to telling him what he hads done before getting him to wash his blood-spattered trousers and provide him with another pair.

King even boasteds to one friend, Samuel Smythe, at King's Lynn Railway Station, to look at the papers as he has stabbed someone up, before then smoking drugs.

This was not a man saddledracked with guilt or remorse, but seemingly proud about the reputation this brutal slaying might give him among his peers, who he spent his life hanging around with and taking doing drugs.

An unemployed painter and decorator who had little to do with his three children or their mother's, King lived a chaotic lifestyle that was to breed a contempt for life so evident in the way he disposed of Mr Williams.

The victim

David Williams, 31, was a son and a father, who lost his life in the most brutal way imaginable.

His death, the court heard, was the result of a grievance that King had towards him.

But Mr Williams, a cannabis user who had issues with alcohol, - and who the court heard is alleged to have touched his ex-partner's daughter inappropriately - did not deserve to die and certainly not in the way he did.

Mr Williams, who was on incapacity benefit and walked with a stick, would have been no match for his killer once he had let him into his home.

A statement released by his family last night described Mr Williams as a private man who cared only about getting custody of his son, who he hoped to care for and bring up in Hunstanton to give him a 'good quality of seaside life'.

It said: 'Mr King clearly entered David's home and brutally killed him for what seems like very trivial reasons, none of which validate his sadistic actions.

'Because of this, David's son will grow up to never know his father and for that there will never be any justice.

'David's family will now concentrate on making sure that his son grows up knowing how important he was to him and how he loved nothing more than caring for him when he was alive and that he was his everything.

'David will always be in our hearts and our thoughts, and we hope now that justice has been done that he can rest in peace and watch over the family he has left behind.'