A HINDLEY man who strangled his neighbour with a washing line and then threw his body into a bin has been jailed for life.

James Jepson, also known as Kelly, had taken a cocktail of drugs and drink and went out partying afterwards, boasting to a stranger and his brother that he had killed 26-year-old gay schizophrenic Steven Rourke.

Liverpool Crown Court heard how Jepson, aged 25 of Bickershaw Lane, Hindley had claimed he “lost it” after a sexual approach from Mr Rourke.

He had denied murder but was convicted after a nineday trial. After killing Mr Rourke on March 22 by winding the washing line around his neck four times and tying it tightly, Jepson put the body upside down in a wheelie bin, poured petrol over his victim and dumped the bin on nearby wasteland at Victoria Fields. It was found three days after the killing.

Sentencing Jepson to serve at least 18 years in prison the Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Clement Goldstone QC told Jepson he had “utterly disrespected” Mr Rourke’s body, treating it as though it was rubbish.

He added it was a “dreadful killing, significantly aggravated by your conduct after Steven Rourke was dead