BRUTAL murderer Steve Milne has been jailed for life for tying up and beating to death elderly shopkeeper Jimmy Riggs.

Psychiatric reports on the 37-year-old, gathered since November 11 last year when he pleaded guilty to murder, revealed that Milne had suffered a traumatic childhood at the hands of his stepfather.

On the night of December 6 2001, crack cocaine and heroin addict Milne burst into Mr Riggs' Wolverton Road home wearing a mask in a bid to rob him.

Mr Riggs, a close friend of Milne's girlfriend, Andree Carter, tried to rip the mask off him so Milne overpowered him, then used a rope to tie him up.

Then Milne, the 2000 Dorset power-lifting champion, punched and beat the 66-year-old's head using his fists, a statuette and a leg he broke off a table.

At 3.30am the next morning Milne escaped from a window of the house as an explosion inside killed local criminal Jamie Kelly, who Milne claims had returned to the house with him to help burn evidence.

Prosecutors think 35-year-old Kelly, who intended to join Milne in stealing antiques from the home, burned to death because he failed to realise a gas fire was burning as he splashed petrol around.

Defence counsel for Milne, Stewart Jones, told Winchester Crown Court yesterday: "The psychiatric reports confirm the traumatic childhood the defendant suffered at the hands of his stepfather in Liverpool.

"This led to his stepfather's imprisonment for nine months in respect of this young boy who was 12-years-old at that time.

"Over the years the level of sentence has changed and for these offences now he would have received a minimum of two years, not more than ten and this was really only the tip of the iceberg."

Mr Jones said the events led to his mother having a breakdown and becoming alcoholic as well as Milne and his brothers and sisters getting into trouble.

"All of this almost inevitably had something of a brutalising effect on the defendant," said Mr Jones.

Prosecutor Guy Boney QC said Milne had a string of convictions beginning in 1977 with an offence of burglary when he was aged 11.