Stephen Wales (left) who was found guilty of manslaughter and Michael McKevitt who was convicted of the murder and of Pauline Beattie _300
A BURGLAR who choked a woman to death during a botched burglary was today jailed for life - and must serve a minimum of 25 years.
Michael McKevitt, 37, claimed through his barrister that he was too ashamed to enter the courtroom to hear his sentence and remained in the cells.
Liverpool crown court had heard McKevitt (pictured right) boasted to his friends how he "chickened" Pauline Beattie during a raid on her home in Anfield.
He had hold of the 54-year-old woman with learning difficulties while his fellow raider Stephen Wales rifled through the house.
Wales, 44, was today jailed for eight years for manslaughter.
Wales (pictured left) stood alone with security guards in the dock to hear the judge's sentence.
Judge John Roberts said he accepted the pair thought the house was empty when they planned the raid.
They were both heroin addicts and plotted the burglary from a nearby crack den so they could buy drugs.
Both McKevitt, of Phoenix Brow, St Helens and Wales, of Bright Street, Everton received concurrent sentences for the burglary charge they had already admitted.
