A TEENAGER has been jailed for life with a minimum of 24 years for murder.

Daniel Reed, 19, armed himself with a hammer and screwdriver, broke down the door of Shaun Skelton’s York home as he slept and woke him up, said Jonathan Sharpe, prosecuting.

He, grabbed a kitchen knife from the flat in Holgate Road, York, and then battered and stabbed the 53-year-old man to death as Mr Skelton tried to crawl away from him.

He was left with 70 different wounds including a slit throat and a broken skull, Reed wandered the streets of York covered in blood telling strangers and friends what he had done.

He later said: “The feeling of a life in your hands is to save a life, it’s the same rush in taking a life, I probably feel better about ending one.”

He had long hated Mr Skelton whom he described as “a waste of space, someone who doesn’t deserve life” and two years earlier had broken down his door with a baseball bat.

In the hours leading up to the murder, he had drank from a two-litre bottle of strong cider and ended his relationship with his then girlfriend.

Reed, formerly of Strensall Road, York, pleaded guilty to murder at Leeds Crown Court.

He was given a life sentence and must serve a minimum of 24 years before he can apply for parole.

Mr Justice Langstaff told him: “You committed what is on any view a horrifying murder …. It demonstrates you are a very dangerous man as you now are, but you are very young.”

The victim’s 77-year-old mother, Shirley Fairburn, whom he visited every day said in a police statement: “He has left a massive gap in my life.

“I miss Shaun so much and long to be in his company again. I see his shadow everywhere I go.”

She described her last memory of him: “As he left my house he told me he would see me on Monday. I watched him from the window as he walked down the street and I never saw him again.”

Mr Skelton died just before midnight on Sunday March 5.

For Reed, Simon Kealey QC said because of his troubled background, he had a personality disorder that meant he had difficulty coping with “ordinary circumstances”. He was highly anti-social and anti-authority.

His behaviour was also affected by drink and drugs.

He was very young and immature for his age and would spend longer in custody that he had so far been alive before he could seek parole, said the defence barrister.

Leeds Crown Court heard Reed was on licence from a prison sentence for assaulting police officers and on bail for assaults and other crimes. He had more than 70 previous convictions, many for violence and carrying weapons.

An inquest heard Mr Skelton was found with "significant injuries", on the floor of his flat between the living room and kitchen, and a preliminary post mortem suggested he had died from "serious head, neck and chest injuries".