THE killer of a foster mother is appealing against his 33-year jail sentence for what a judge called a “depraved and brutal” murder, The Northern Echo has learned.

Gareth Dack’s lawyers have lodged papers with the Court of Appeal, claiming the prison term passed last month is “manifestly excessive”.

Dack, 33, denied murdering Norma Bell at her home in Hartlepool in April last year, and setting fire to it to cause an explosion to destroy evidence.

Teesside Crown Court heard during a trial that the out-of-work cocaine addict phoned soft-porn chat-lines while his victim lay dead or dying feet away.

The Northern Echo: SUPERMUM: Norma Bell

FOSTER MOTHER: Norma Bell

Mother-of-nine Mrs Bell - who had fostered more than 50 children with her late-husband, John - had been throttled and strangled with a telephone wire.

During his drug-fuelled rampage, the 79-year-old’s lower clothing was cut by Dack, possibly in a bid to remove it, said prosecutor Christopher Tehrani, QC.

Trial judge, Mrs Justice Whipple: “This must have been a truly terrifying ordeal. You would have overpowered her with ease. It was a savage act.”

Dack’s solicitor, John Ellwood, confirmed the father-of-four’s appeal has been lodged, but it is not known when his application will be considered.

Mr Ellwood, a partner of Tilly Bailey & Irvine, said: “The court record will show Mr Dack has submitted an application for leave to appeal against sentence.”

The application will be determined by a single judge at the Court of Appeal, and if it is granted it will go before three of the country’s most senior judges.

Hard-up and in-debt Dack, of Windermere Road, Hartlepool, is said to have gone to Mrs Bell’s home to steal - a week after he had been there to borrow £10.

After the blaze was discovered the following morning, the house had been ransacked, and £700 cash, a new boxed television, and a mobile phone had been stolen.

Mrs Justice Whipple told Dack his refusal to admit his crimes was a “last unkindness to Mrs Bell’s family.

He said: “We cannot know precisely when you did it, but you killed her by strangulation, first with hand pressure then with a phone cord.

“You knelt on her and used extreme violence against her, it was a terrible crime.

”After arrest you refused to co-operate with the police, and your continued silence means Mrs Bell’s family do not know how she spent her last hours. That is terrible for them.”