A PRISONER jailed for life for murder has sent a letter of remorse to a Kent Messenger Group newspaper as an open apology for his crime.

Darren Greenacre, 32, typed his message from HMP The Verne in Dorset, where he is serving his sentence for killing his flatmate Edwin Adams during a drunken fight.

In a letter to the East Kent Mercury he wrote: "I have spent nearly 10 years in prison, which has been the least I deserved.

"To finally accept my responsibility took years to form within my deranged way of thinking. I write saying openly sorry.

"I am not asking for forgiveness. I am asking for the chance to do something right, for once, in all that I have done wrong."

Mr Greenacre lived in a flat on Deal seafront amid a culture of heavy drinking when the 1997 murder took place in Prince of Wales Terrace.

As Mr Adams lay drunk on the stairs, he was savagely kicked and stamped to death. He died the next day.

In his letter Mr Greenacre said he was sorry for killing Mr Adams and apologised to his family.

"I know these words may hold little, but they are true and I shall forever speak them."

In 1998 he denied the murder charge and he was jailed for life. Last month a High Court hearing decided he must serve 14 years and could apply for release on parole in 2011.

READ THE ENTIRE LETTER IN THIS WEEK'S EAST KENT MERCURY.