A JOBLESS alcoholic has been given a life sentence for the murder of Gerry Edwards and the attempted murder of his partner.

David Kilcullen must serve a minimum of 32 years for the horrific knife attack which left Mr Edwards dead and Chris Bevan fighting for his life.

He visited the home of Mr Edwards with a knife on March 3 hoping to steal the 59-year-old’s car.

But he did not count on Mr Bevan being in their flat in Page Heath Villas, Bickley.

Hearing his partner’s screams, Mr Bevan rushed to the kitchen to find 46-year-old Kilcullen with a sock on his hand, brandishing a serrated kitchen knife.

During police interviews, 57-year-old Mr Bevan (pictured below with Mr Edwards) described how he and his partner laid quietly on the kitchen floor in front of Kilcullen, before the unemployed scaffolder crouched down and knifed them repeatedly.

News Shopper: Chris Bevan and Gerry Edwards were stabbed multiple times by Kilcullen

A jury returned a guilty verdict at the Old Bailey yesterday and Kilcullen was sentenced this morning (December 16).

Before sentencing Kilcullen, Judge Brian Barker said Kilcullen was “aggressive and overpowering”

He continued: “You showed no mercy.

“Gerry Edwards was an ill and frail man making the most of his disabilities.

“They were a quiet and supportive couple who had every right to think they would be safe in their own home.

“The bald fact is that you saw an opportunity to extort money and knew you had found an easy target.

“You intended both to die and it was only the presence of mind and bravery of Mr Bevan to flee the house that he averted the same fate as his partner.

“Mr Bevan’s life has been turned upside down and your actions have taken so much from him.

“You knew what you were doing. You knew you were armed with a deadly weapon.

“I’m satisfied that by the time you came to wielding the weapon there was intent to kill.

“There was at least an undercurrent of homophobic attitude.”

News Shopper: The knife was bent in the attacks

He added: “It may well be you will spend the rest of your life in custody.”

Chris Bevan is still recovering in a brain injury unit in Blackheath.

Speaking to News Shopper after the sentencing, he said: "I'm overwhelmed.

"I thought he would get less.

"He needs to be taken off the streets forever."

A post-mortem examination on Mr Edwards revealed he had four stab wounds to his chest, with the fatal blow slicing through the former trade unionist’s breast bone and sinking into his heart.

A doctor giving evidence during the two-week trial said Mr Edwards, who was dying of AIDS, would have died within seconds.

In an effort to flee Kilcullen, and suffering from stab wounds himself, Mr Bevan left a trail of blood as he staggered from the kitchen into the lounge before collapsing into an armchair.

Kilcullen, who lived nearby in a bedsit in The Avenue, Bickley, followed and began to beat him around the head with several glass bottles.

By then the knife blade had bent and was useless.