A callous thug stabbed a young mother in her home, drove her to a quiet location and then set fire to the car with her in it while she was still alive, a court heard today.

Joshua Caird’s brother tried to intervene after seeing Donna Eastwood groaning in the boot of the car but he knocked him to the ground and continued with his evil plan.

Caird, 27, of Almond Road, Stone, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years after admitting murder.

Prosecutor Philipa McAtasney QC told Maidstone Crown Court: “This was a horrifying and barbaric murder of a mother of four children.

It appears to be senseless.

“She was alive when burnt to death by him. One can only imagine the agony she was in when she died in the fire the defendant deliberately set in an attempt to destroy evidence” - Prosecutor Philipa McAtasney QC

“He stabbed her and wrapped her up in a tarpaulin before putting her in the boot of the car. She was suffering and must have been extremely frightened when driven off.

“She was alive when burnt to death by him. One can only imagine the agony she was in when she died in the fire the defendant deliberately set in an attempt to destroy evidence.”

Passing sentence Judge Jeremy Carey told Caird, who sat in the dock with his head bowed: “The mere recital of these facts cannot adequately describe the full horror of this appalling criminality.

“What you did was a senseless, merciless and wicked crime. By committing it you have deprived four children of the love of their mother.”

Caird lived with his parents close to Donna in Almond Road. She lived next door to Caird’s sister Vanessa Smith.

On October 17 last year Mrs Smith threw a surprise party to celebrate their mother’s 40th birthday. Both Caird and Donna were guests.

Miss McAtasney said there were no problems during the evening. Donna left at about 2.15am. She went home with her two oldest children.

Caird was drunk having passed out. He was woken up by his father and taken out shortly after Donna had left. He was sick before being taken home and put to bed.

But Caird got up, obtained the keys of Mrs Smith’s Qashquai car and drove it away from her house.

Caird’s brother James, known as JD, had gone to a friend’s house after leaving the party. Caird arrived and said he had Mrs Smith’s car.

Asked by his brother what he was doing with the car, Caird replied: “I think I have killed her, Donna. She is in the car.”

JD ran to the boot and saw a tarpaulin from a barbecue in a body shape. He desperately tried to unravel it.

“He heard a low growling, gurgling, wheezy noise coming from Miss Eastwood,” said Miss McAtasney. “He tried to unwrap it. Caird said quite calmly: ‘‘There is no point in doing that.”

He added either “She has been stabbed” or “I have stabbed her.” But he would have known by the noises Donna was making she was still alive, said Miss McAtasney.

Caird had asked his brother for help in getting rid of the body and for money. JD replied he was calling the police.

But Caird knocked his brother down, closed the boot of the car and drove off.

JD’s friend had heard Caird say he needed petrol money because he was going to burn the car out. He added that Donna had denied insulting Mrs Smith’s daughter.

JD called his mother at about 5.22am and told her what had happened. He ran to the home of a special constable and banged on the door. He told her what he had seen.

Police started searching for Caird. He had gone to a service station in Princes Road and drove off without paying for diesel.

A man was woken up in Rowhill Road, Wilmington, at about 6am by a loud bang. He looked outside and saw lights. He went out and saw a car fully ablaze.

He took photos on his mobile phone which showed the ferocity of the fire. Firemen were called.

Miss McAtasney said Donna’s badly burnt body was discovered in the boot.

A man saw Caird walking down the street. Caird told him: “I am sorry.” He had texted his mother: “I’m sorry for all the grief I put you through. I love you.”

She rang him and asked where he was. He said he didn’t want to go back to prison. She told him: “You either go back or you kill yourself.”

When asked where Donna was, he replied: “I ain’t done nothing.”

Caird was arrested at his home on Sunday, October 19. He had written two notes which suggested he had planned to kill himself.

“The evidence is clear that Donna was alive when the defendant set fire to the car” - Prosecutor Philipa McAtasney QC

He told police he had taken 15 packets of tablets.

He claimed he had tried to hang himself.

Miss McAtasney said medical evidence showed wires had been tied around Donna’s body. She had been stabbed in the back.

“The evidence is clear that Donna was alive when the defendant set fire to the car,” she said.

There was evidence that Caird had sexual intercourse with Donna shortly before she died but it was not possible to say whether it was consensual.

A patch of blood was found on the couch in Donna’s home. The knife was recovered from the burnt out car.

Caird wrote to his mother from prison telling her not to contact him again and adding: “See you in 30 years.”

Miss McAtasney said Caird was on licence at the time of the murder for kidnap and assault, for which he was jailed for three years in 2011.

Moving statements from Donna’s brother and sister Dean and Lisa Shepherd were read out. They were mostly read by the prosecutor, but Lisa read the last part of her’s.

Jonathan Higgs QC, defending, told the judge there was nothing he could say that would minimise the pain Donna’s family were suffering.

“On one hand he [JD] showed a degree of humanity and wanted to help her and you in stark contrast did nothing except to beat him to the ground so that he couldn’t intervene to try to save her” - Judge Jeremy Carey

He described the killing as “terrible, grisly and tragic”. The only explanation Caird gave was that something was said about his sister Mrs Smith’s child.

Mr Higgs said Caird believed he had killed Donna before he burnt out the car, but accepted she must have been alive.

“The attack was not premeditated,” said the QC. “It was an instant, totally unjustified reaction. What was undoubtedly planned was what he did to cover up the murder.

“He has to accept what took place afterwards was not blind panic. He sought to blame others in an absurd way.”

Judge Carey said Caird had entered Donna’s home in the early hours where she was in bed and her four children were asleep.

Some time afterwards in circumstances that could not be given with any accuracy Caird stabbed Donna, thrusting a kitchen knife into her with purpose.

“It is not one bit surprising you admit you intended to kill her,” said the judge. “She didn’t die.”

Caird acted with considerable coolness as he wrapped the body in tarpaulin and drove it away in the car.

Judge Carey said of Caird’s brother JD: “On one hand he showed a degree of humanity and wanted to help her and you in stark contrast did nothing except to beat him to the ground so that he couldn’t intervene to try to save her.”

Caird, he said, did not show one ounce of concern as he set fire to the car and Donna. There was no remorse at the time.

Donna was a loving and fun-loving mother, he continued. The effect on her children, who had already lost their father, was not to be underestimated.

Judge Carey stressed that 25 years was the minimum term Caird would serve, adding it would be for the parole board to decide if he should then be released.

Speaking after the plea, Donna's sister Lisa Sheppard said: "My life will never be the same. I wish I had a magic wand and could turn back time but I can't.

"Now where she used to be is one big empty hole."

In a statement issued on behalf of the family, Ms Sheppard said: "I am glad that this nightmare is now over for my family and that justice has been served. We can now work on trying to rebuild our lives.

"Donna was an amazing person who would light up a room whenever she walked into it. I miss her so much it hurts.

"I would like to thank our family and friends for supporting us through this terrible time. Life no doubt will still be hard but to know that Donna’s killer is locked up is of some comfort."

Detective Inspector Ivan Beasley, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: ‘This was a senseless and cold-blooded attack on an innocent mother in the middle of the night. Caird had spent the evening socialising at a party with his victim, before stabbing her and leaving her to die in a burning car.

"Caird knew what he had done. He committed a vicious attack on a mother of four before cowardly hiding from the police.

"Miss Eastwood’s family has been through an incredibly emotional ordeal because of Caird’s actions.

"He killed an innocent woman in a horrific, drunken attack and continued to deny it for almost six months.

"I’d also like to take this opportunity to commend the witnesses. It took a great deal of courage to come forward and help us identify a suspect to give Miss Eastwood’s family some sort of justice.

"I am pleased that Caird is now where he belongs. Today’s sentence helps give Donna’s family some small element of closure, but it does not change the fact that four children are now without their mother."