Trio guilty of 'horror film' murder

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Maria Chandler, 40, Jimi-Lee Stewart, 25, and Jonathan Clarke, 20, killed 17-year-old Norfolk student Simon Everitt in a re-enactment of a scene from spoof horror movie Severance.

Jurors returned guilty verdicts at Norwich Crown Court following a four-week trial.

Mr Everitt, 17, of Great Yarmouth, was tied to a tree in woodland in nearby Mautby and then set on fire. His body was found on June 28 last year - about three weeks after he was last seen.

Jurors were told the murder replicated a scene from the film Severance.

Chandler and Stewart, both of Great Yarmouth, and Clarke, of Telford, Shropshire, were each found guilty of murder.

Prosecutor Karim Khalil QC said the case was a demonstration of "grotesque brutality".

Clarke, Stewart and Mr Everitt had all been involved in a tangled love affair with a woman called Fiona Statham, who was 19 at the time of the murder and a close friend of Chandler.

Clarke had watched the film Severance about a year before Mr Everitt was killed, it emerged during the trial.

Mr Khalil told the court: "When Clarke watched that DVD, he made a comment to this effect: 'Wouldn't it be wicked if you could actually do that to someone in real life?'"