A brutal killer who stabbed a man and woman to death and wounded two others in bloody “mayhem” at a Canterbury house could end his days in jail after being sentenced to life.

Imposing a minimum term of 30 years on Foster Christian, a judge told him: "I don't know if you have ever stopped pitying yourself or deludedly thinking that you can justify what you did long enough to consider the impact your knife attack had, not just on the people you attacked and wounded, but on those affected by the loss of life you caused."

The 54-year-old grandfather defiantly gestured with his middle finger to the public gallery after the sentence was greeted with loud applause and cheers.

Scroll down for video

He murdered Simon Gorecki and Natasha Sadler-Ellis and wounded her soldier son Connaugh Harris and a 16-year-old boy.

Maidstone Crown Court heard a row over Christian making a shower go cold led to the frenzied knife attack at shared accommodation.

VIDEO: The victims' families spoke outside court.

Mr Gorecki had been showering when Christian turned on a tap in the kitchen causing the temperature change.

When Mr Gorecki shouted out Christian responded “**** off you mug”.

Soon afterwards, he fatally wounded Ms Sadler-Ellis, 40, and Mr Gorecki, 48, and seriously injured Mr Harris, 20, and the teenager, who cannot be identified.

The all-male jury unanimously convicted Christian on Friday of both murders and wounding the teenager with intent.

He was acquitted of a similar charge involving Mr Harris, but convicted of the lesser charge of unlawful wounding.

Mr Gorecki, who was 5ft 6in tall, sustained five stab wounds, four of them to his back.

Ms Sadler-Ellis, who was the same height, had several wounds, one of which entered above her left eyebrow and “followed down” inside her lower jaw.

Mr Gorecki, a former fishmonger at the Goods Shed in Canterbury, died as a result of a collapsed right lung and Ms Sadler-Ellis from a wound to her heart.

At the time of the shower incident at about 7pm on March 29 this year Mr Harris was at his mother's home.

He went with the boy to the house in Dickens Avenue after calling her and hearing abuse.

When they arrived Christian was in his room. Mum-of-three Ms Sadler-Ellis, who was educated at Hartsdown School in Margate, and Mr Gorecki were downstairs.

Mr Harris tried to calm the situation. Christian shouted further abuse and Ms Sadler-Ellis went to his room, followed by Mr Harris, Mr Gorecki and the teenager.

There was pushing and shoving and Mr Harris tried to intervene, but was struck by Christian.

The teenager punched Christian, who retaliated with a knife covered by a plastic bag.

When the police arrived at 7.40pm, the teenager was lying at the top of the driveway. He feared he would die and was given first aid by Mr Harris.

Ms Sadler-Ellis and Mr Gorecki were lying on the floor in the kitchen. Mr Harris had tried to help his mother and carried out CPR on Mr Gorecki.

The teenager had a wound to his right forearm, a superficial injury to his right thigh and a cut to his abdomen.

There was also a large bleed to the iliac vein which returns blood from the leg to the heart, and a 3cm hole in his large bowel. His injuries were life threatening.

Naomi Toro, 36, arrived at the house and was seen by a police officer to leave with the knife.

When arrested on March 30 she took officers to where she had thrown the weapon into the River Stour from the King Street bridge in Fordwich and it was recovered.

Christian denied all of the charges claiming he acted in self-defence. He described getting Mr Gorecki in a headlock and “punching out”.

Mother-of-three Toro, 36, who has multiple sclerosis, and Samantha Groombridge, 19, admitted assisting an offender by taking a knife from the scene.

Toro, of Keyworth Mews on the Brymore Estate, was jailed for a year and Groombridge, of Downs Road, was sentenced to 10 weeks youth custody.

Toro had been remanded in custody at her own request since June and is likely to serve just two more months.

'Bring back the death penalty' - victims' families react to Christian sentencing

Rajiv Menon QC, defending, said given the minimum term, Christian could die in prison.

It was a strong mitigating factor, he said, that there was no premeditation on Christian’s part. It was a violent incident that took no more than seven to 10 seconds, he suggested.

Mr Menon submitted that the minimum starting point for sentence could be reduced by “a year or two”.

Mr Justice Stuart-Smith asked: “I have seen no sign of remorse and you have not advanced it as a matter of mitigation. Is there anything you want to say?”

Mr Menon replied: “I haven’t advanced it because in the light of the defence run at trial for him to have made a meal out of remorse to a full public gallery would quite frankly be inappropriate.”

Passing sentence, the judge said he accepted there were tensions in the house, which were made worse when residents were drinking and became argumentative.

He also accepted Christian had taken steps to move out because of the tension that led to incidents, one including when a visitor punched him a few days before the murders.

The tensions, he said, may explain why when Christian made the shower go cold he and Mr Gorecki did not react more calmly.

“The fact that Mr Gorecki had been drinking may explain why, on his side, he didn’t just leave that stupid argument,” he continued.

“Drink may explain why Ms Sadler-Ellis got involved in the argument and why later she made a move to go up the stairs towards you.

"I don't know if you have ever stopped pitying yourself or deludedly thinking that you can justify what you did long enough to consider the impact your knife attack had..." - Mr Justice Stuart-Smith, to Christian

“But nothing - nothing at all - begins to justify what you did later.”

Mr Harris did not go to attack Christian but was a young man who thought he could sort things out. “It was when you stabbed him that things went wild,” the judge continued.

“Your allegation that Mr Gorecki came at you with a knife was a lie, which you first developed when Natalie Toro came to the house after the incident.

“I am sure if Mr Gorecki had come at you with a knife you would have said so from the start - you didn’t.

“The violence that followed took place to the threshold of your room, but on any view what you did was way over the top.

“It was literally a murderous attack on not just Mr Gorecki, who had a cider can but not a knife, and also Ms Sadler-Ellis, who was unarmed, and on (the 16-year-old), who was also unarmed.

“Your evidence that you didn’t know you had the knife in your hands was untrue. You knew you were stabbing them and what you did went way beyond any possible bounds of reasonable self-defence.

“The wounds you inflicted speak for themselves.”

The teenager was still in considerable pain and could not do normal activities a boy of his age should be able to do. He was described as “a broken person smashed into a thousand pieces”.

Mr Harris’ wounds were less serious but he had to witness what Christian did and then try to save the life of the teenager.

Christian had put the family “through hell on earth”, and it continued.

“Anyone with any human decency would be devastated by the impact of your crimes,” said the judge.

But apart from expressing regret at what happened to Ms Sadler-Ellis, there was no sign of remorse about Mr Gorecki.

“What you did was so far over the top I doubt it can properly be described as excessive self-defence when you became a murdering aggressor,” said the judge.

“But I accept that at least at first there was an element of self-defence in your thinking.”

They were “terrible crimes” but not in the exceptional and small group of cases to call for a “whole life” order.

“The starting point is 30 years. That is a terrible prospect for a man of 54, but it reflects the terrible crimes you committed.”

LIVE: This is how the sentencing hearing unfolded

[Live Grid - FOSTERSENTENCING]

Additional reporting by Josie Hannett