Man gets life for murder at Isle of Man care home

A jobless abattoir worker was jailed for life today for the murder of two teenagers at a care home.

A jobless abattoir worker was jailed for life today for the murder of two teenagers at a care home.

Peter Newbery (23), strangled and stabbed 16-year-old friends Samantha Barton and George Green at the Leece Lodge halfway care house on the Isle of Man in February 2002.

He was found guilty of the double murder last December following a six-week trial at the island's Court of Justice in Douglas.

Sentencing him to life imprisonment, with a minimum of 20 years before he is considered for parole, Acting Deemster Simon Fawcus said Newbery had shown "no remorse" for the killings.

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Newbery, from Willaston, Isle of Man, attacked the pair in a squabble over drugs.

Samantha was part of a group of drug users who regularly shoplifted to fund their habits.  The day before the murder she invited George, Newbery and another friend back to her home to smoke cannabis and boasted about having a rock of crack cocaine.

Newbery, said by the prosecution to have wanted the crack cocaine, returned to the house later and attacked Samantha and George, stabbing them and strangling them with shoelaces. He also sexually assaulted both victims, both before and after their deaths.

He left Samantha's body at Leece Lodge and dumped his other victim in nearby scrubland. Bloodstains on the shoelace murder weapons linked Newbery to the crime.

Both victims were known to social services and police on the island.

PA