A HOMELESS man who tortured and battered a vulnerable man to death before setting his house alight has been locked up for life.

Jurors took less than hour to find John Hodson guilty of murdering frail David Gard, 64, after breaking into his home to rob him.

Well-built Hodson, whom the court heard is of “extremely low intellect”, will serve a minimum of 32 years.

His mother wept and shook in the public gallery as he was led down.

Jailing him, the Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Henry Globe, QC, said: “It was a murder done for gain in the course of a dwelling house robbery or burglary where you broke in and were considerably violent to the deceased.”

He added: “There were so many facial injuries that the doctor couldn’t count them all.

“Those who pulled him out of the house stated that his face was staved in.”

Firefighters were called to Mr Gard’s home on Adelaide Road, Kensington, at 3.45am on March 13, 2008, by neighbours who saw smoke billowing from a broken kitchen window. When they entered the property, the smoke was so thick they only found Mr Gard’s eight-stone body by doing a fingertip search.

It was only when they got 5ft1in Mr Gard, who suffered from mental and physical difficulties including deafness, outside that they realised he had suffered a severe head injury.

They were unable to resuscitate him.

Prosecutor Stuart Driver, QC, told the jury Mr Gard had suffered at least 49 external injuries, but was so badly beaten it was impossible to say how many bones in his face had been broken.

Judge Globe said: “The three cuts to David Gard’s neck are evidence of him being tortured and beaten to find out where he kept any possessions.

“The full extent of his injuries is evidence of a concerted and determined effort to cause him really serious harm or to kill him.”