A failed Royal Marine who walked into a police station and confessed to killing and secretly burying his neighbour five years earlier and going on a three-month £50,000 spending spree with the victim's bank card was jailed for at least twenty-eight years yesterday.
Thomas Puxty, 31, (pic.bottom) told officers he killed 55 year-old father-of-three Lee Clement at a hostel in Burrage Road, Woolwich - using a pressure-point technique he learned in the army.
He then buried Mr. Clement (pic.top) in Partridge Wood, Brabourne, Kent, where he remained until a police search team and specially-trained sniffer dogs found and recovered the body.
A spokesman for the family said: "To imagine that anyone would ruthlessly exploit our father's vulnerability fills us with deep sadness.
"Our relationship with our father ebbed and flowed and to be denied any opportunity to let that relationship flow again is something that will never leave our family."
Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court Judge Price, describing Puxty as a callous individual, sentenced him to life imprisonment for murder and recommended he serve at least twenty-eight years before he can be considered for parole.
Detective Inspector Chris Stanley, from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said: "We must not lose sight that the most important people in this case are the family of Mr Clement, who have had to sit through and listen to the sinister manner in which Puxty had acted in killing their father and uncle.
"The dignity and courage they have shown has been most humbling.
"As the investigation officer I would like to pay tribute to the professional manner the investigating team have conducted themselves throughout this case and also to praise counsel in the manner in which they presented the case."
Police believe the fact Mr. Clement's body was hog-tied with heavy-duty tape proves he was tortured by Puxty into revealing his PIN number.
Homeless Puxty was convicted by a jury after a two-week trial of murdering Mr. Clement between March 6 2006 and March 9, this year. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and preventing his lawful and decent burial before the trial.
Former central heating engineer Mr. Clement endured a tragic life, with his brother, QPR and England right-back Dave Clement killing himself with weedkiller, aged 34, after a career-ending leg-break.
His mother took her own life when he was just seven and his first wife Barbara died during routine bowel surgery twenty years ago, resulting in the loss of custody of his children, which prompted a spiral into depression and heavy-drinking.
After a second failed marriage Mr. Clement received over £100,000 from the sale of the matrimonial home and spent all day drinking whiskey in the hostel, where Puxty was his basement neighbour.
"This mix of vulnerability and wealth made him an attractive target for anyone with designs on getting their hands on his money," prosecutor Mr. Jonathan Rees QC told the jury.
Mr. Clement was never officially reported missing after vanishing from the hostel in late April 2006 and nothing was heard of him until Puxty walked into Plumstead police station on March 11.
"The defendant said he wanted to confess to a murder," explained the prosecutor. "He claimed he had been asked to kill this person and the body was buried in a field in Kent.
"He said he killed him by applying pressure to a pressure point, something he learned in the armed forces.
"He said he killed the man after being offered ninety-three thousand pounds, which was being held in the victim's bank account and he had been given details of how to get the money out."
Between April and July 2006 multiple cash withdrawals were made from the account and the card was used to buy a watch, television, computer, jewellery, clothing, video games, petrol and alcohol and cigarettes.
"He said he told the victim he was going to kill him and the victim jumped up with a knife, which he took from him," added Mr. Rees.
"He said he killed him by applying pressure above the collar bone and cutting off the supply of blood to the brain."
When the body was recovered on March 10 it was obvious Mr. Clement had been hog-tied with tape, which had also been wrapped around his head.
The pathologist was unable to give an exact cause of death, but agreed it was "conceivable" Mr. Clement could have been killed by pressure to the neck or postural asphyxia.
Investigators discovered Puxty had quit the Royal Marines after five weeks of training while still a teenager, but he boasted to others he could kill with his bare hands and demonstrated the pressure-point technique to at least three women.
He claimed a bullet wound to the knee while serving in Kosovo ended his army career and he had performed a contract killing for Triad gangsters and buried the victim's body in woods.
"This defendant has an active imagination," said Mr. Rees. "He glorified and fabricated stories of great daring and do.
"The prosecution say he deliberately murdered Mr. Clement to gain access to his money and then buried his body."
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