STEPHEN Seddon has become one of the very rare number of people whose greed drove him to the ultimate crime - not only murder but the murder of his own parents.

For Seddon money was his "whole world" and when he got it, he spent it fast.

Even the lives of his mother and father were just an obstacle to overcome to get his grasping hands on cash.

Detective Superintendent Denise Worth, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "That anybody could kill their parents, to plan it, and to do it for money is indescribable.

"I cannot imagine that there are many people in the world that could do it."

Seddon was leaching off his parents' modest wealth for years before he murdered them.

In one of the last acts of his life, his father paid his son's £60 speeding fine.

His parents had already bought Seddon's home in Seaham, County Durham to keep a roof over his family's heads.

Seddon, who grew up in Manchester, began offending at the age of just 13, appearing before youth courts for offences of burglary, handling and theft.

Further convictions followed as an adult for taking vehicles without consent and he was jailed at Bolton Crown Court in 1989 for a series of offences including obtaining goods by deception and theft.

He met his wife Nicola, an ex-model who is from the Sunderland area, in a lap dancing bar in Manchester 17 years ago and they moved to the North-East.

His offending continued and he developed a taste for the high life.

He worked mainly in sales and in the late '90s set up a firm, European Business Support, providing grants to small businesses.

The firm charged businesses £295 on the promise it would help secure European funding, growing to an annual turnover of £5m - he had £2m in his bank account at one point.

Seddon used to the cash to live like a millionaire, buying a £46,000 Bentley, a speedboat and a caravan on Lake Windermere.

But in 2000 Seddon pleaded guilty at Teeside Crown Court to fraudulent trading and was jailed for a year.

In the weeks before killing his parents he was desperate for money, applying for high-interest, instant- access loans from various finance firms.

On the day of the murders he had just £5.45 in his bank account.

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