Jailing Arben for life with a minimum term of 32 years, the judge Mr Justice Mackay said it was "plain" to him that there had been aggravating features surrounding the murder of Agim who despite being a drug dealer, had the right to life like everyone else.

He said : "it was a premeditated killing. There was no other reason you would have bought a crow bar, tape and ties other than to restrain him.

"There was no more reason you bought petrol other than to attempt to hide what you had done."

He added that "insult, desecration and lack of respect" was another aggravating feature.

The judge told Arben he took into account his difficult childhood but added: " When you came to this country you had the good fortune to come into the hands of a foster mother of the highest quality".

He told Arben he had led "a worthless existence on the fringes of the drug scene" and was a man who had barely worked a day in his life.

He said: "Drug dealers have a right to life just like everyone else has."

Arben was also handed a four year term for perverting the course of justice in cleaning the crime scene, removing Agim's body and setting it on fire, which will run concurrent.

Jailing Afrim for three years and three months, he told him: "You made a big mistake. You said that more than once to the jury and I believe you felt and feel that.

"You agreed under some pressure from Arben, who is a stronger personality than you albeit younger. He bullied you into helping him get rid of the body of a man he killed in a flat next to yours.

"You knew Agim Hoxha had been murdered and knew his was the body you helped carry down the stairs."

He added that he believed Afrim did not know Agim's body was then going to be burnt, saying it was "a revolting way of getting rid of the body of another human being".

The judge added that he believed Afrim acted out of fear and he had done something completely out of character as he was well thought of, paid his way in society, worked and kept in touch with his son.