AN odd job man who brutaly beat a customer who owed him £40 to death has been jailed.

Duncan Hearsey kicked and stamped on Alan Creasey’s head at least four times in the  attack in the victim’s home in Ingleside Crescent, Lancing.

Hearsey’s clothes were found covered in the 52-year-old victim’s blood.

On the night of the killing, May 29 this year, Hearsey, of Emerald Quay, Shoreham, had been thrown out of two pubs after threatening bar staff and customers and he smashed a kebab shop window.

In sentencing him to life with a minimum term of 21 years, Judge Jeremy Gold QC told the 44-year-old: "Alan Creasey was clearly, from what I've heard and seen, a vulnerable individual and you entered his house uninvited not once but twice attacking him in his home.

"While I am prepared to accept that you may not have intended to kill Mr Creasey, I have no doubt that had you not been drunk, it would have been obvious to you that the degree of violence you were using was likely to cause life changing injuries if not actually kill him.

"Precisely what happened or was said on your return is something that only you know but you brutally punched him to the ground and kicked and stamped on him causing catastrophic brain injury."

The Argus: Duncan Hearsey's movements on the day he killed Alan Creasey

Senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Till Sanderson said in a statement: "While Hearsey may not have set out that day with the intention of killing Mr Creasey, it is undeniable that the brutal injuries he inflicted led to his death. He now faces the consequences of his actions.

"Hearsey claims he acted in self-defence, however the relentlessness of his attack suggests otherwise; Mr Creasey sustained multiple injuries which were consistent with being repeatedly kicked or stamped on."