A MURDERER who confessed to a brutal slaying hours after killing his alcoholic drinking partner during a robbery has been jailed for life.

Daniel Oxley admitted he was behind the frenzied attack on Michael Outhwaite after spending the day with him in Willington, near Crook, County Durham, in September.

The 22-year-old fled to his parents’ home in Murton, where he owned up to his crime, and they advised him to call the police.

After his arrest he falsely claimed he had murdered missing 35-year-old York chef Claudia Lawrence, who disappeared in 2009, and a man from Easington.

Oxley boasted he was Britain’s youngest serial killer but police are sure his claims are groundless.

He pleaded guilty to one count of murder at Newcastle Crown Court and was today sentenced to life with a minimum of term of 23 years and nine months before he can apply for parole.

Prosecutor Nick Dry said: “On the way to the police station he claimed he had murdered Claudia Lawrence and asked how long he might get for a double murder.

“He claimed he had killed a third person and said he would be the UK’s youngest serial killer.”

Mr Outhwaite’s body was found in a field behind the High Street in Willington in the early hours of Friday, September 12, days after Oxley was released from prison.

A post-mortem examination revealed he suffered massive blood loss from a stab wound to his sternum and heart, with other wounds to his liver and two to the neck as well as about a dozen puncture wounds to the torso, back and arms.

Mr Outhwaite, 42, from Sunderland, was killed with a kitchen knife at about 8.30pm on September 11 before Oxley stole money from his pockets and keys to his flat at the homeless hostel they lived at, where he ransacked the dead man’s room and changed his clothes.

He went to the nearby Queen’s Head and paid for a drink with blood-stained notes and took a taxi to Murton, paying the driver from the same gruesome bundle of cash, explaining his girlfriend had gone into labour.

In another taxi, after stopping at a friend’s house, Oxley confessed the killing to the driver and asked to stop at an off licence but the cabbie did not continue the journey, leaving Oxley apparently acting out the attack with a man outside the shop.

Oxley bought four cans of lager before going to his parents where he told them the true horror of his crime and police were called.

Tim Roberts QC, defending, said: “He said attention seeking and grandiose things after he was arrested to those in authority to misrepresent his own position. His mother is a nurse and the sadness he has brought on his household is not possible to express in words.”

Recorder of Newcastle, Judge Paul Sloan QC said the murder was committed for Oxley’s gain, probably so he could buy drugs.

The judge said: “There is only one sentence, which is life imprisonment.”