CAMPAIGNERS last night condemned vigilante attacks after a murderer beat a homeless man to death in the mistaken belief he was a paedophile.

Brian Kearney has admitted murdering 49-year-old father Barry Sewell, whose body was found near allotments close to Sunderland Football Club's Stadium of Light ground on December 1.

The 21-year armed himself with weapons and repeatedly battered the widower with hammers, used a bar to smash his kneecaps and shins and dropped 15kg breeze blocks on his head before thrusting a metal pole into his body.

Newcastle Crown Court heard he originally tried to cover up the crime by pretending he had stumbled upon the body, but he later admitted the killing, saying he believed Mr Sewell was a paedophile.

Last night, campaigners said it was a tragic example of why vigilantes should not take the law into their own hands.

David Hines, of the North of England Victims Association, said: "Policing should be left to the police.

"I do not advocate vigilantism at all. We may think the law is an ass at times but people should not take the law into their own hands.

"We have to keep on the right side of the law, it is there to do its job.

"For a member of the public to go and kill someone in this way is totally wrong."

Northumbria Police said there was nothing to suggest the victim was a paedophile and said the attack left even hardened detectives appalled at the brutality used.

Detective Chief Inspector Jim Napier said: ''He was a totally innocent and defenceless victim who was subjected to a completely unprovoked and vicious attack of the most unimaginable violence.

''Only Kearney knows why he carried out the attack and saw fit to inflict horrendous and degrading injuries to Mr Sewell.

''Kearney has claimed that Mr Sewell was a paedophile. This formed a significant line of inquiry for the investigation, but we were unable to find any evidence or information to substantiate this claim and I can categorically say there is nothing to support the allegation that he was a paedophile.

''Thankfully, attacks such as this are unusual and this was an extreme but wholly rare event."

The court heard Kearney dressed in a "killing suit", comprising of a dark hooded jacket and joiners belt filled with weapons, before cycling to a deserted barn, where he launched the deadly attack.

Kearney, of Morgan Street, Southwick, Sunderland tried to cover his tracks by contacting police and telling them: "You had better get down here, I've just found a body with its head stoved in."

When officers arrived at the barn, near the River Wear in Low Southwick, Sunderland, they found Mr Sewell's battered body face down on the ground with no trousers on.

Brian Forster QC, prosecuting, said: "He had sustained devastating injuries to his head, which had, in effect, been destroyed."

A metal pole had also been thrust into him and was protruding from his body.

A post-mortem examination revealed there had been at least 36 hammer blows to Mr Sewell, delivered with severe force.

Kearney told police he had gone home after the killing and watched television, but then decided to go back to the scene in the hope he could "get out of it."

At yesterday's hearing he was warned by Judge David Hodson that he faced a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 24 years after pleading guilty to murder. He will be sentenced tomorrow.

The court heard Mr Sewell, who has grown-up children, turned to alcohol after the death of his wife from cancer and was living on the streets at the time of his death.

In a statement his family said: "'He had lived in Southwick all his life and was both a well known and well liked figure in the area.

''In his later years he did have his problems and chose to live outdoors, a way of life he enjoyed. But it does not matter what problems he had, no one deserved to die in this terrible way.''