Why did he do it? Murder trial's unanswered question

He then subjected cystic fibrosis sufferer Joe, described by his parents as a "little angel", to a "sustained and savage attack".

Joe, aged 11, was battered over the head with a frying pan so hard that the pan broke. He was then stabbed 16 times in a frenzied attack by Hamer on March 1 this year.

Hamer used a wheelie bin to take Joe's body to nearby Whitehead Park in Bury where he dumped it in a gully.

Manchester Crown Court heard the attack followed a sexual advance by Hamer that was rejected by Joe.

Joe's father and mother, Tom and Gwen Geeling, sat watching Hamer, as the life sentence on him was passed.

Hamer, aged 15, pleaded guilty yesterday before the scheduled start of his trial.

Mr Geeling looked at his wife and shook his head as the judge announced a minimum 12-year term.

They both watched as Hamer, of Dalton Street, Bury, was led, in silence, from the court.

Alistair Webster QC, prosecuting, told the court that Joe had been diagnosed with the lung disease, cystic fibrosis at just six weeks old but his family was anxious for him to lead as normal a life as possible.

Mr Webster said that at 5.24pm on March 1, Joe was reported missing by his mother after he failed to return to his home in Devon Street from St Gabriel's RC High School in Bury.

"In fact, by the time the police received the call by his anxious mother, he was already dead, killed by the defendant, Michael Hamer," Mr Webster said.

He said Hamer had never given a consistent and credible account of why he did what he did.

"Joe's parents still don't know why their son was taken from them and, like the rest of us, they can only seek to tease the truth from the evidence," Mr Webster said.

Mr Justice Richard McCombe, passing sentence, said Joe had many friends and kept a "humorous and comical" outlook on life despite his medical problems.

"He was clearly an intensely-loved member of a close and devoted family. You have taken Joe from them," he told Hamer.

The judge said Hamer had harboured "significant feelings of distress" from the absence of a relationship with his father and suffered a "significant degree" of bullying at school.

"I am now told that, within the past few days, you have admitted to Mr Steer (Hamer's defence counsel) and to your solicitor that you made a sexual advance to Joe who responded by referring to you as gay' and threatening to tell others of what you had done," said Judge McCombe.

"Joe, as you accept, had done absolutely nothing to encourage any such advance.

"The rejection of the advance was the immediate triggering event of what you did to Joe."

The judge then described Hamer's attack with kitchen knives as "ferocious" and occurring in a "frenzied few minutes". "You took away Joe's life and damaged the lives of all who loved him," he added.

The judge ruled that Hamer would be kept in prison and only released when it was considered safe to do so. He passed a minimum tariff of 12 years before Hamer could be considered for parole.

The judge said doctors had found that Hamer was suffering from an "adjustment disorder" at the time of the murder.

He also said the killing was not thought of in advance but was triggered by Joe's rejection of the defendant's sexual advance.

After the case, the detective who led the investigation said he did not believe the full truth about Joe's death had yet come out.

The court heard Joe was beaten repeatedly about the head with a frying pan. With Joe probably semi-conscious from the initial attack, Hamer went downstairs and took two knives from the kitchen.

He stabbed Joe 16 times. One stab with a knife penetrated to a depth of 3in, another punctured Joe's windpipe in two places, cut a major artery and reached Joe's spinal column.

Joe was also stabbed three times in the back of the neck, and three times in his head.

There was also a cut on his right thumb where Joe tried to defend himself. He bled to death. After the murder, Hamer dragged Joe's body downstairs, through the kitchen, to the door of the house.

He then put it in a wheelie bin and took it to Whitehead Park.

Hamer covered the body with discarded furniture, rocks and leaves and then wheeled the bin back home.

As he was disposing of the body, his mother phoned him on his mobile.

He gave excuses to explain why he had not been at home when she called there and why he was outside.

When he got home, Hamer began cleaning Joe's blood from the house.

It was later found by forensic experts on two of the knives in Hamer's bedroom and on the upstairs landing.

Hamer told his mother the stains on the carpet were caused by a leaking red pen.

He did his homework that evening, an exercise based on the Ten Commandments.

The next day, Hamer went to school as usual, and was questioned by staff and later police over Joe's disappearance.

Later he admitted to police his responsibility for the death and claimed he had set up the meeting with Joe as "a wind-up" so Joe would go to meet him but no-one would be there.

Mr Webster said: "There was a significant degree of planning and premeditation.

"It is clear that Joe was lured back to Hamer's house, where the murder took place."

The real motive for the killing was because Joe rebuffed a sexual advance by Hamer, David Steer QC, defending, told the court.

Hamer made an "adolescent sexual approach" which was rejected by Joe and "triggered" the fatal attack.

Hamer had no previous convictions or history of violence but his intellect was low to average and he was immature for his age, Mr Steer said.

He lived with his mother and had never lived with his father who had only "infrequent and intermittent" contact with his son.

He became upset after once inadvertently hearing his father telling his mother he had no feelings for the boy.

He said Hamer felt "unloved, denigrated and humiliated".Hamer had been bullied at both primary and secondary school, suffering verbal abuse, violence, a form of extortion and social exclusion from other children.

Mr Steer said: "A picture emerges of a sensitive child with low self-esteem, unable to express himself, emotionally immature and socially isolated."

Hamer at first lied to psychologists, claiming he lured Joe to his home to scare him and make the victim feel what it was like to be isolated and scared as he was when he was being bullied.

"We submit he simply did not feel able to admit that his motive was a sexual one. He found it easier to give these other accounts," Mr Steer said.

"Only later on, within the past few days, Michael had felt able to admit to his solicitor and myself what really happened.

"He made a sexual advance towards Joe who responded to him as gay' and threatened to tell others about what he had tried to do."

"We are really dealing here with an adolescent sexual approach which went horribly wrong and the rest followed."

Speaking outside court, Joe's father, Tom, flanked by Joe's mother, Gwen, and family and friends, said the family wanted time to reflect on the sentence.

He said: "It has taken a lot of preparation for us to get to this point. It has been a long, frustrating, agonising wait for all of us."

Detective Superintendent Martin Bottomley, who led the investigation, said he would ask Crown Prosecution Service lawyers to consider whether the sentence was "unduly lenient".

"We have heard a version of events today about the circumstances leading to Joe's death that is somewhat closer to the truth than some of the nonsense Hamer has given to us.

"I do not believe it is the full story. It's my view that Joe was never going to leave that house."