Evil liar cut his guardian angel to pieces

He cooked, bought him gifts, gave him free run of his elegant Victorian home and allowed him use of his car and small yacht.

Inevitably, questions arose as to a possibly sinister motive for the vicar's generosity but detectives found nothing improper in their friendship In essence, Mr Glazebrook had become Hunnisett's guardian angel.

For his charity, Mr Glazebrook, who was in remission from bowel cancer, was repaid in the most appalling way.

Drowned in his own bath, the frail Reverend was then hacked to pieces.

Hunnisett's friend Jason Groves nervously stood watch in the dark as the macabre act was carried out.

It was a killing that provoked revulsion across Britain.

Unbelievably, Hunnisett, now 18, believed he could evade justice with a story so far-fetched it drew shaken heads from almost everyone in court.

As he faces a life sentence for murder today, it proves Christopher Andrew Hunnisett is as deluded as he is depraved.

What ended with Mr Glazebrook's killing began innocuously enough.

A missing persons inquiry was launched on April 30 last year following concern from the reverend's daughter Christine Freeman.

She had last seen her father on March 14, 2001, when he travelled up to London to celebrate her 45th birthday.

With Mr Glazebrook's autumn age, he had been prone to forgetfulness. Sometimes he would miss services without notice.

However, they were always followed by a call of apology from the clergyman, who found his memory lapses frustrating.

On April 29 and 30 Mrs Freeman had twice spoken to Hunnisett asking after her father after failing to contact him. Hunnisett, giving calm reassurance, said he did not have a clue.

What no one knew at this stage, apart from Hunnisett and Groves, was that Mr Glazebrook was dead.

The reverend, a cricket fan, was a creature of habit.

Each morning he would fetch his paper and walk his dog, Jonty.

On Tuesday, May 1, Mrs Freeman again phoned Hunnisett saying she and her husband, John, were travelling down from Surrey the next day.

When they arrived, Hunnisett kept up the pretence of not knowing where he was.

Police were called.

On Friday, May 4, three officers combed Mr Glazebrook's ground-floor flat, where they found a sealed letter in his desk drawer, dated April 26, the day before he was killed.

The unsent, handwritten letter addressed to Hunnisett's parents showed Mr Glazebrook had become infuriated by his lodger's increasingly arrogant, bullying behaviour.

In it, the reverend detailed how his patience had run out with Hunnisett.

He wrote: "I am writing to say that my patience with Christopher is fast running out. I have told him several times his behaviour is unacceptable.

"For a number of months, he has become a hindrance rather than a help. He uses the flat as if it is his own.

"I have had complaints of him from both the people upstairs and those downstairs but he treats them all with contempt, as he does everyone else.

"I was very doubtful as to whether such a situation would work when he first moved in. He has also started to lie to me. He told me that force is the solution to 98 per cent of life's problems."

He goes on to detail a blazing row between them the day before, Wednesday, April 25, after he found Groves in his bedroom late at night.

Hunnisett refused to ask Groves to leave, claiming it was too late for him to walk home. When Mr Glazebrook threatened to call the police, Hunnisett ripped out the phone line.

In his letter, Mr Glazebrook added: "I sat down in the hallway to wait until he went but Christopher removed all the lightbulbs, urging me to go back to bed.

"When I still refused, he physically manhandled me back to my room and locked the door."

Although Hunnisett had not seen the letter, he had known growing friction meant he could soon be evicted, something he told his careers advisor.

It was his impending eviction, said prosecutor Philip Katz QC, that pushed Hunnisett to murder.

Mr Katz said: "He had grown to enjoy access to the reverend's elegant home, his car and his boat moored at Newhaven.

"The Crown says the last thing Hunnisett wanted was to be out of the home where he had spent time in comfort."

On May 4, Detective Sergeant Gary Batchelor, along with fellow officers, spoke to Hunnisett, who again denied any knowledge of Mr Glazebrook's whereabouts.

Groves came under suspicion due to his friendship with Hunnisett.

A search of the reverend's F-reg Toyota Carina parked outside his flat revealed what looked like traces of blood on the boot.

The bronze-coloured car was impounded. The following morning, on May 5, scenes of crime officers carried out an examination which confirmed the detectives' worst fears.

Detective Chief Inspector Kevin Moore, the senior investigating officer, then took over the inquiry.

That morning Hunnisett and Groves were arrested and taken for questioning. Both lied about Mr Glazebrook's whereabouts, saying they did not know.

They were released from Hastings police station on bail. During the same day, the reverend's yacht, Sulis, was examined. Again blood was found in the cabin, the deck and other areas.

Matching the blood found in the car and yacht was simple for detectives.

As Mr Glazebrook was in remission with bowel cancer, his blood samples were already stored at the Conquest Hospital in Hastings. Tests made a conclusive match with the vicar.

With the investigation now being stepped up to a murder inquiry, detectives' focus shifted back to Hunnisett and Groves.

House-to-house inquiries revealed on April 27 a neighbour living above Mr Glazebrook had heard a ferocious bang from his flat.

Others remember seeing Hunnisett clearing out the Reverend's Toyota Carina outside his flat on Sunday, April 29, two days after he was killed.

But the most crucial lead came on May 16. The four limbs and head of Mr Glazebrook were found packed into a bag on a small road island close to Hastings police station.

A saw was found in the red sail bag. Hunnisett, formerly of Coventry Road, St Leonards, and Groves, of Stonehouse Drive, St Leonards, were re-arrested.

Under questioning, Groves confessed how Hunnisett had told him he had drowned Mr Glazebrook.

Groves, who was 17 at the time, explained how he had seen the body in the bath and admitted his part in disposing of the body parts.

According to Groves, now 18, Hunnisett had drowned the cleric in his pyjamas but removed them and put them in an airing cupboard to make the death look natural.

Groves was told of the death by Hunnisett on Saturday, April 28, the day after the killing.

Leaving the vicar's body in the bath, Hunnisett travelled by train to Hampden Park, Eastbourne, where Groves was rollerblading.

Later that day, they both returned to the flat where Groves was led by a "perfectly calm" Hunnisett into the bathroom, where he saw the body. Hunnisett said it would be too suspicious if they called police so a plan to dump the body at sea was hatched.

In darkness, they placed the reverend's axe, saw, rope and anchors in his car. They then lifted the body out of the bath feet first and put him into a large sail bag, wrapped in rope.

As they drove to Newhaven Harbour, it was decided the body would be more easy to dispose in parts. A diversion was made to woodland at Friston Hill, near Seaford.

There, Groves stood watch while Hunnisett spent 45 minutes sawing up the cleric under torchlight in a scene many in court found unimaginable.

After placing the four limbs and head in a sail bag and wrapping the torso in a duvet, they put them in the car and drove to Newhaven Harbour, by this time about 2am on Sunday.

They waited until high tide at about 5am until leaving the yacht's berth. Hunnisett said he knew an ideal spot where to dump the body overboard.

But the plan had to be aborted when the yacht's engine failed. They rebirthed the yacht and loaded all the body parts back into the car.

With his appetite undiminished, Hunnisett drove to a McDonald's at Glyne Gap, Bexhill, before returning to the flat with Groves.

Plan A had failed. Plan B was to bury the parts at several locations. They planned to return after dark to bury the limbs and head.

During the day, they drove round to friend Nathan Cox's house in Hastings, with the body parts still in the boot.

Groves repeatedly goaded Hunnisett into showing Mr Cox the body parts.

Mr Cox said: "I couldn't believe what I saw. I remember moving away from the car in shock."

That night Hunnisett and Groves buried the limbs and head on the small island behind the police station. They went on to dump the torso beside the A259 Marsh Road, weighed down with concrete.

The cause of Mr Glazebrook's death was inconclusive. With his body parts being left on damp ground, there was heavy decomposition.

But there were serious injuries to his body, including a torn shoulder and bruising on his face and back.

On May 18, Groves led police to undergrowth beside the A259 Marsh Road.

Meanwhile, Hunnisett, knowing evidence against him was building, concocted a bizarre version of events totally at odds with Groves'.

In police interview, he said Mr Glazebrook was part of a "cryptic guardian organisation".

He told detectives that on Friday, April 27, a member called Flare walked into the bathroom where Mr Glazebrook attacked her unprovoked with a knife.

She retaliated, according to Hunnisett, leading to the Reverend slipping in the bath. Hunnisett said he found the reverend dead.

Hunnisett said to avoid the death "reflecting badly" on the organisation it was decided to make the reverend's death appear to be a murder.

So taken aback by Hunnisett's bizarre claims, police ordered him to see a doctor to assess his mental state but he concluded he was sane.

His wild imagination, evident from sci-fi stories found on his home computer, failed to work. At trial, he distanced himself from his fantasy claims.

What Hunnisett failed to convince anyone was why, when, as he claimed, he had not murdered the vicar, did he go to the extreme lengths of sawing him apart and disposing his parts?

Detective Chief Inspector Moore said: "The reverend's whole life, particularly since he retired from church circles, revolved around caring for others.

"There were many times when he took young people, male and female who had fallen on hard times, under his wing.

"He was a caring man who looked after people the whole of his life. His life revolved around caring for other people. To have his life ended like this is unspeakable."

Hunnisett, with his cool, calm lies, believed he could evade justice.

He was wrong.