'Evil' grandson jailed for stabbing grandmother to death

Gregory Irvin is "a compulsive liar" and will serve a minimum of 24 years in prison

A man who murdered his grandmother by stabbing her more than 30 times has been ordered to serve a life sentence.

Gregory Irvin, 26, cut the throat of Anne James, 74, during the brutal knife attack at her home in Walsall, West Midlands, on 28 February.

His family called him "evil" during sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court.

Irvin, of Hill Park, Walsall Wood, was told he would serve a minimum of 24 years in jail for killing the former nurse.

The court heard he had a £35,000 gambling debt and stabbed his grandmother first in the back and then in the chest, after assaulting her in the kitchen of her home in Doveridge Place, Highgate.

When a neighbour discovered Mrs James, and raised the alarm, the 26-year-old even attended the address along with his other shocked relatives, West Midlands police said.

'She died terrified'

CCTV footage of Irvin in the area, plus DNA analysis taken from his car and jacket linked him to the crime.

He claimed he could not remember the attack at his trial - a fact ruled out as a "lie" by Mrs Justice Nerys Jefford, who described the killing as an attack of the "most extraordinary ferocity and cruelty".

Anne James was attacked in her kitchen

Mrs James's son Andrew James said in a statement read out to the court: "She died terrified and alone, with an evil grandson. He has ripped out my heart and stamped on it.

"She would have been frozen with fear - like a lamb to the slaughter."

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The court heard how the 26-year-old cocaine-user had constantly asked to borrow money from his family and girlfriend, after racking up thousands of pounds worth of gambling debts.

Det Insp Harry Harrison, of West Midlands Police, said: "This was a despicable crime by a compulsive liar, who shunned and manipulated the love and support offered by his family."