Boy locked up over 'Corrie killing'

Apr 2 2012

A 15-year-old boy has been detained for 16 years for killing his mother with a hammer after being inspired by a plot from Coronation Street.

Daniel Bartlam killed his mother Jacqueline in a hammer attack at their home before burning her body.

The judge at Nottingham Crown Court lifted reporting restrictions allowing the media to name the teenager, who the court heard had been inspired to carry out the murder by a plot in ITV soap Coronation Street.

The court heard how Bartlam, who was 14 at the time of the attack, hit his mother seven times with a claw hammer at their home in Georgia Drive, Redhill, Nottingham. He then poured petrol around her bedroom before lighting newspaper on a gas fire and setting the property alight.

Jacqueline Bartlam could be identified only by dental records, after her body was recovered from the blaze on April 25 last year.

The court heard how Bartlam had been inspired to carry out the killing by a plot in Coronation Street, where one of the characters, John Stape, had killed a woman with a hammer.

Bartlam had claimed the killing was not murder because he had lost self-control. But in February this year a jury unanimously found the teenager guilty of his mother's murder.

Sentencing him to life imprisonment at Nottingham Crown Court, Mr Justice Julian Flaux told the teenager he must serve a minimum of 16 years and described the killing as "grotesque" and "senseless". The judge said it seemed like the teenager wanted to "get away with the perfect murder".

Following the sentencing, DCI Kate Meynall, senior investigating officer who led the investigation, called it a "shocking" and "chilling" case. She said: "The circumstances of this crime are shocking and difficult to comprehend. We know that Daniel spent time planning to kill his mum, and then executed his plan overnight."

She added: "The level of violence, degree of planning and extent of his lies is not only shocking, but it is also chilling that a boy of 14 could do this. You can only imagine the impact that this has had on Jacqueline's family, and having spent time with them throughout the investigation and subsequent legal proceedings, I know this is going to be very difficult, if not impossible, for them to come to terms with."