Man jailed for 22 years for murder of 93-year-old

A paranoid cannabis user who tortured his 93-year-old friend for more than 24 hours has been jailed for a minimum of 22 years.

Martin Glynn was punched, kicked, stamped on and strangled by Samuel Field, 40, at the killer's home in Desborough, Northamptonshire, in September 2024.

Field, formerly of Gold Street, was found guilty of murder earlier this month and has been given a life sentence. The prosecution described the prolonged attack as "senseless" and "entirely pointless".

Glynn never walked again after the attack, during which Field made a series of voice recordings about a conspiracy, and died three months later on 26 December.

During sentencing at Northampton Crown Court, prosecutor Adrian Langdale KC described the pair as having a "long-standing imbalanced relationship".

The court heard they had known each other for about 20 years and the dead man had been paying Field "a significant amount of money", including £200 in cash during weekly visits.

The prosecution said Field began heavily using drugs after the breakdown of a relationship which left him in an "aggressive paranoid state towards those around him".

Langdale said in the months leading up to the attack, the killer had "become increasingly threatening to his mother, brother, neighbours and landlord".

The prosecutor said it was "unclear" exactly when the violence began, but video evidence from a Blink camera in the property suggested Glynn was attacked with a "powerful punch" almost immediately after entering the property shortly before midday on Thursday, 19 September.

This was followed by "a mass of kicks to the head and stamping on the head as [Glynn] lay prone" in an assault that continued for at least 29 hours.

The court heard Field called an ambulance on 20 September and police later found Glynn "semi-conscious in the shower".

A witness statement from Glynn to police detectives in hospital, read to the court, said: "Samuel had put his hands around my neck and squeezed. It hurt so much [I] could not eat or swallow properly."

Langdale said Glynn had endured "mental and physical suffering" after "being subjected to an interrogation, abandoned in a cold and wet shower cubicle" and left unable "to speak, communicate, feed himself or look after himself".

Judge Stephen Eyre called it a "sustained attack" involving "prolonged and repeated beatings".

Addressing Field, the judge said: "You had come to believe Martin Glynn had in some way betrayed you by giving your house key to other people.

"There was no substance to that belief."

Glynn died from pneumonia on Boxing Day after spending months in hospital and in a care home.

Representing himself at the sentencing, Field admitted assaulting Glynn but denied intending to kill him.

"Martin was my closest friend, like family to me," he said. "I am sorry for what I have done."

In a victim impact statement, Glynn's family described him as "a quiet, softly spoken man" and "an absolute gentleman".

"It was very upsetting to hear he had suffered so much. The impact has been very distressing," they added.

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