TWO men have been jailed today for a total 17 years after a teenager was killed and his body buried under a shed in Eltham.

The battered body of 18-year-old Stephen Ojerinola was found encased in concrete under a newly-built patio and shed last November by police sniffer dogs.

William Regan, aged 37, of Lynsted Gardens, Eltham, was sentenced at the Old Bailey to 14 years in prison for manslaughter and four years for preventing lawful burial, to run concurrently.

His accomplice Lee Davies, aged 36, of Chiswell Square, Blackheath, was also jailed for three years for preventing lawful burial at the site in Regan's garden.

Regan pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the eve of his retrial on November 20. He had previously admitted unlawful burial but denied murder - claiming self-defence - and was facing a retrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict in June.

Davies pleaded guilty to unlawful burial but was cleared by a jury of murder and manslaughter on June 15.

During the earlier trial, the court heard how the teenager was stabbed, hit with a hammer and baseball bat before being buried beneath rubble and concrete around April 12 last year - with a chocolate bar wrapper found discarded in the tomb.

Jurors heard Mr Ojerinola was involved with drugs and that addict Regan, who regularly committed burglaries to fund his habit, may have contacted him to buy some. Following the death, activity “normally reserved for fiction” took place with a shed, concrete and cladding used to hide the “gruesome” details.

Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane, of the Met’s homicide and serious crime command, said: "Stephen Ojerinola suffered a violent death at the hands of Regan, a drug addicted criminal known for his predisposition for violence.

"Having killed Stephen, Regan displayed a level of remorselessness and callousness, normally reserved for fiction, by getting an accomplice in Davies to help him hide the body in a shallow grave covered by a patio and a shed and proceeding to use his garden as if this gruesome act had never occurred.

"I am pleased that today Stephen's family have seen those responsible for his death and the indecent disposal of his body go to prison and hope that it goes some small way towards helping them, having attended court each day and have acted with dignity whilst having to listen to traumatic evidence, cope with their loss."