Hammer killer Christopher Hunnisett jailed for life
A man who bludgeoned a man with a hammer after having sex with him has been jailed for life, months after his acquittal over another killing.
Christopher Hunnisett, of Hastings, was ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years by a judge at Woolwich Crown Court.
The 28-year-old attacked Peter Bick, 57, strangling him with a shoelace at his home in Bexhill, in January 2011.
In 2010 he was cleared on appeal of murdering a vicar he claimed abused him. The judge said he may kill again.
Hunnisett spent eight years in jail for drowning the Reverend Ronald Glazebrook in his bath at the flat they shared in St Leonards in 2001.
His conviction was later quashed and he was cleared of the 81-year-old vicar's murder after a retrial, amid claims of sexual abuse.
During his trial over Mr Bick's murder at Lewes Crown Court, the jury heard Hunnisett made a "hit list" of men he planned to kill in his bid to rid the world of paedophiles, following his release from prison.
He set up false internet accounts as a "honeytrap" for sex offenders.
Jurors heard Hunnisett believed Mr Bick was a paedophile, but the prosecution said there was "not a shred of evidence" Mr Bick had abused children, although he met men over the internet for consensual sex.
Hunnisett had sex with Mr Bick before hitting him five times on the head with a hammer and strangling him with a shoelace as he lay naked on his bed.
He then walked into a police station to confess what he had done.
The judge, Mr Justice Saunders, said Hunnisett was an "extremely dangerous man" who "may well kill again" if released in the foreseeable future.
He added: "The time may never come when this defendant is considered safe to be released."
Det Ch Insp Nick Sloan, of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, said: "This was a terrible crime, and the jury were clearly unconvinced by Hunnisett's claims about his motives for carrying out such a cruel and deliberate killing.
"Peter Bick's sister, together with her husband, was present at court throughout the trial and they had to listen to Christopher Hunnisett deliver utterly unfounded personal attacks about the character of her brother.
"What exactly was motivating Hunnisett in the lead up to the murder and afterwards we will perhaps never really know, but there is no doubt at all that society is a safer place now that he is in prison."