Philip Simmons caged for life after murdering two pals with spade, rolling their bodies in bedding and dumping them in a garden
Twisted Philip Simmons, 38, had warned a psychiatrist he 'may kill somebody' days before he brutally murdered housemates Daniel Hatfield, 52, and Matthew Higgins, 49
A MONSTER who battered two pals to death with a spade — almost decapitating one — has been caged for life.
Twisted Philip Simmons, 38, had warned a psychiatrist he "may kill somebody" days before he brutally murdered housemates Daniel Hatfield, 52, and Matthew Higgins, 49.
The evil brute beat, strangled, stabbed and then clubbed the friends to death with an array of weapons including a spade.
He then rolled their bodies in bedding and dumped them in his back garden in Hull, East Yorks.
He later boasted to prison staff: "The head almost came off one of them".
Daniel suffered 49 separate areas of injury including 14 broken ribs, while Matthew had 44 areas of injury.
Both victims "suffered painful and far from immediate deaths," a court heard today as the savage killer was jailed for life with a minimum of 36 years.
He had earlier admitting murder and a separate robbery on a bookies while he was on the run last April.
Judge Jeremy Richardson QC told him: "The circumstances are intensely horrific and demonstrate you are an extremely dangerous and violent man.
"I am of the view that it is almost inevitable that you will never be released from prison. I cannot foresee a time when it will ever be safe to release you."
The judge said Simmons "displayed not a shred of humanity," adding he was "suffering from a psychotic disorder that was undoubtedly widened by voluntary consumption of heroin and crack cocaine" at the time of the murders.
As he was being led down from the dock, Simmons said what sounded like "forgiveness", .
Simmons told police he thinks he killed Mr Hatfield first, which prosecutors say was "for no apparent reason", and then killed his other housemate realising he would find the body.
The next day he took a friend to where they were partially hidden and asked him: "Do they look like they are having a nap?"
Asked why he killed the pair, the monster said he "just wanted to", adding: "I know I am going away for ever for that, but at least I've done two."
In a victim impact statement, Mr Hatfield's sister Rachael Coles said: "The loss of our brother has devastated each member of our large family."
She described him a "cheerful human being" with "impeccable manners", someone who "would offer to help people in need, even though he had very little himself".
She said: "The man who took Daniel from us can never take what is in our hearts and what we feel.
"The contrast with Daniel and the evil that took his life is so vast it's beyond comprehension."
Matthew's brother Timothy Higgins said the double killer "has to understand he had left his brother's children without a role model and a figure to look up to."
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At an earlier hearing, Grimsby crown court heard Simmons had sought help from a doctor, who chose not to admit him to hospital even after he threatened to "kill somebody".
Barrister Richard Wright, QC, said: "A few days before the killings, Mr Simmons saw a psychiatrist in the community and told him that he was unwell, and that he believed he may harm or kill somebody.
"That psychiatrist declined to admit him to hospital, and he went on to commit these killings."
Police were alerted to a scene of horror after a neighbour spotted legs poking out from under a duvet in the back garden.
Dina Kacare, 39, said: "I was cleaning my garden with my friend when I noticed that I could see into my neighbour's garden, next door.
"A few bricks had fallen off the wall so we started comparing how clean the garden was compared to mine.
"I didn't know what to think - we saw a duvet and then a leg and it wasn't moving and that's when I realised it was a body."
Detective Chief Inspector Tony Cockerill said: "It's still not entirely clear which of the two victims was killed first. I don't think he can remember.
"But for reasons known only to Simmons, he attacked the first victim, dragging him into the garden, during which he was subjected to what I can only describe as an horrific attack, with extreme levels of violence and multiple weapons.
"The attack was sustained, there were a high number of injuries.
"After that was finished, Simmons had gone back into the house and by his own admission was shocked to see the second victim in the kitchen, who he knew would be asking for his friend.
"He makes a conscious decision: he's going to find that body when he leaves by the kitchen door, therefore I'm going to have to kill him as well."
Simmons had appeared in his local paper weeks before his killing spree when he claimed he waited an hour for an ambulance when he was hit over the head with a hammer in a row over money.
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