Blanket fire killer gets 14 years

A killer was today jailed for life after strangling his best friend before burning him alive and dumping his body in Wolverhampton city centre.

Jason Perks, aged 36, was told he would serve at least 14 years in jail.

The court heard he had carried out the murder after being released hours earlier after an unrelated court appearance.

He beat and stamped on former butcher Darren Eaton, 42, before wrapping him in a blanket and setting him on fire near Wolverhampton Market.

He phoned 999 to confess to the killing, chuckling and telling an operator he was “not bothered”, before officers raced to the scene and put out the blaze with a fire extinguisher. Part of the market was sealed off, with traders prevented from getting to their stalls, after Mr Eaton’s badly burned body was found on grass off Salop Street last October.

Perks, of no fixed address, this afternoon admitted murder on what should have been the first day of his trial. 

He was being sentenced by Mr Justice Goldring this afternoon.

Mr Daniel Janner QC, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court the attack had been “brutal and extremely violent”.

He added: “By his own admission, the defendant strangled the deceased and stamped on his head more than once.”

Mr Janner said Mr Eaton was “still alive and just about breathing” when the fire started. “The defendant covered him with a blanket and set fire to that,” he said. The court heard that the pair had been drinking in the hours before the tragedy.

Divorced Mr Eaton, formerly of Pendeford and Hydes Road, Wednesfield, had worked at Sandhu Meat & Poultry in School Street, and at Dave Silverton Butchers in the Mander Centre.