AN odd-job man who killed his friend and set fire to his home in a desperate bid to conceal his crime was yesterday jailed for life after being convicted of murder.

Malcolm Harland, 50, was told he will have to spend at least 18 years behind bars for throttling 77-year-old retired joiner Terence McGlade after a late-night argument.

It is not known what sparked the row but detectives believe it may have been about money Harland owed the pensioner or Mr McGlade criticising his friend’s lifestyle.

Weeks before the tragedy, Harland had been evicted from his flat when his rent was not paid, and it is thought he had been spending time at his friend’s bungalow.

After the case, it emerged that that crime might never have been solved – or even treated as a murder inquiry – had the fire not been spotted by an alert passer-by.

The man tried to tackle the blaze but called the emergency services when he realised it was so fierce, and firefighters were quickly on the scene to put it out.

Officers initially thought it had been an accident caused by a cigarette, but a postmortem examination showed injuries to tiny bones in Mr McGlade’s neck.

The grandfather’s remains were badly burned, but a pathologist was also able to detect two broken ribs and injuries to his lips, Teesside Crown Court was told.

After the case, Detective Superintendent Gordon Lang said the blaze being spotted within minutes of it being started and tackled so quickly preserved key evidence.

Harland “carried on as normal” after the murder, visited a supermarket to buy alcohol and even returned to the scene while police guarded it to pay his respects.

Later, he went to a club not far from the bungalow in Redcar, east Cleveland, and suggested to others that Mr McGlade may have fallen asleep with a cigarette.

Jailing him, Judge Peter Fox, QC, said Harland’s victim was vulnerable because of his age and disability – he had a heart condition and had just had a hip transplant.

He said the arson at the dormer bungalow in Pennine Crescent was “plainly for the purpose of destroying the evidence which might be brought against you”.

“Thankfully, only a limited period of time seems to have elapsed between your setting that fire and the alert member of the public using his initiative,” he said.

“But for the two actions of that member of the public and the promptness of the fire brigade, one can only wonder what the result would have been.”

Harland, formerly of Queen Street, Redcar, initially told police he had strangled Mr McGlade for five minutes before his body went “limp” and dropped it to the floor.

He said he panicked and poured brandy on a bed before setting it alight, but later claimed he grabbed the pensioner briefly and did not mean to hurt him.