A TEENAGE robber has been sentenced to life after murdering a 41-year-old man in his home.

Derron Bailey, aged 19, from Camberwell, was told he must serve a minimum of 22 years in prison.

He had been found guilty of stabbing to death Ian Jones in his ground-floor flat in Creeland Grove, Catford, on May 18 last year.

Bailey was also given seven years and four months to run concurrently for robbery, which he pleaded guilty to.

Leo Jones, aged 18, of Beechfield Road, Catford, and a 16-year-old boy, from Sydenham, were sentenced to seven years and four months after pleading guilty to robbery.

Justin Barnett, aged 21, of Bargrove Crescent, Lewisham, was sentenced to 11 years after being found guilty of robbery.

Barnett, Jones and the 16-year old boy were found not guilty of murder.

The Old Bailey trial heard how Bailey, Jones and the 16-year-old forced their way into the flat.

Mr Jones was struck with a brick when he came to the front door, wrestled to the ground and later stabbed before electrical items were stolen, the court heard.

It was alleged that Bailey had carried a knife, stabbing Mr Jones, while Leo Jones and the 16-year-old boy ransacked the property.

Barnett had always claimed that he had never entered the flat during the burglary.

A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as a single stab wound to the heart.

The day after the robbery Leo Jones, Bailey and the 16-year old attended Lewisham police station where they admitted their involvement in a burglary "that had gone wrong".

Detective Chief Inspector Amanda Hargreaves said after the verdicts that Mr Jones had also been beaten so violently that shoe imprints were left on his body.

She said: “There was absolutely no reason for Ian to have been killed and it is shocking that the greed and desire for monetary gain shown by the defendants led to his murder."

In a statement the victim’s estranged wife Alena said: "He was a kind and caring man who had no enemies."