A MAN was jailed for life for murder yesterday after being convicted of stamping his father-in-law to death.

Grandfather Bill Jackson suffered injuries so horrific in the attack that a pathologist compared them to a car crash or a fall from a three-storey building.

The 63-year-old was a well-known figure near his home in Peterlee. On one occasion, he sent neighbours rushing indoors as he went on the rampage carrying his ferret and armed with a knife, said Christopher Knox, prosecuting.

The widower died two months after being stamped on in his home by 32-year-old Mark Gladstone, husband of his daughter.

Home Office pathologist Nigel Cooper told Teesside Crown Court: "He was attacked with such ferocity that his spleen and bowel were torn. His injuries were consistent with a road traffic accident or being thrown out of a third floor window."

Mr Knox said: "He was spoken of as a kindly and thoroughly pleasant man when he was sober.

"But he was unfortunately a man with a drink problem which had apparently dogged him for a lot of his life and it had a very significant effect on his family, and at the time he met his end it was something of a problem for all those who lived in the vicinity."

Gladstone, who tried to kill himself twice after Jackson's death two months later, told the jury: "I don't deserve to live.

"I clearly remember stamping on his chest and stomach. I lost control, I was just hitting and shouting, shouting and hitting."

Gladstone, of Galloway Road, Peterlee, a few doors from Jackson's home, denied murder on August 25 but admitted manslaughter.