A MAN has been jailed for life for the brutal murder of a care worker who was out cruising for other gays in Ramsgate.

Mr Justice Bell told Steven Munnerley that he was prepared to accept that the victim, Charles Hasleden made a homosexual approach to him before the killing.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how on October 30 last year Munnerley battered Mr Hasleden, 53, to death at a shelter on the East Cliff, stripped off his clothes him and dragged his body down the steps to the beach.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for more than 13 hours before rejecting Munnerley’s claim of diminished responsibility and convicting him of murder by a 10-2 majority.

Munnerley, 34, of Codrington Road, Ramsgate, who had admitted manslaughter, sat in the dock with his head bowed after the verdict.