A 29-year-old Iraqi Kurd who murdered a pensioner at a notorious house of death in Maidstone has been jailed for life.

A judge recommended that Sherzad Muhamed should serve a minimum of 12 years for the cold-blooded killing of Richard Cromarty.

Judge Warwick McKinnon told Muhamed: “This was, in effect, a frenzied and brutal summary execution of an elderly man in his own home for reasons which were never disclosed to the court.”

The judge said Muhamed, who persistently denied murder but has now admitted his guilt, had since given an explanation to a doctor.

The 67-year-old victim died after suffering more than 20 knife wounds at his flat at 67 Kingsley Road on July 15 last year, making it the third murder investigation there in the last 10 years.

The attack on Mr Cromarty, who lived alone, was so ferocious that his ribs were fractured. The fatal wound – 10-12cm deep – penetrated his heart.

Muhamed, who had previously lived at the flats, was discovered seemingly asleep on the steps of the nearby post office and store, where he had worked briefly stacking shelves.

It was not discovered until later that he was the killer. He sought to blame another Iraqi who he claimed had once brandished a knife at the flats.

But Muhamed was found guilty after the jury heard that a mixture of his and Mr Cromarty’s blood was found on parked cars in the area. Mr Cromarty’s blood was also found on Muhamed’s trousers.

The victim, who had in 1990 been jailed for six years for sex offences, had lived a “solitary and lonely life” In Kingsley Road for several years.

His dying words, captured on a neighbour’s security camera, as he indicated a large carving knife, were: “Help me, help me. Been stabbed. Help. It’s that Iraqi – just stabbed me with this.”

Passing sentence, Judge McKinnon told Muhamed through an interpreter that he had invaded Mr Cromarty’s home and carried out the frenetic attack.

“It must have been clear to everyone from the evidence in the case that you went to the address that night with the specific intent of killing him,” he said.

The judge said it was now clear from a doctor’s report that Muhamed, who was accompanied by nursing staff at his trial, was suffering from a paranoid psychosis mental illness which was linked to the murder.

“However, alongside that you have now admitted killing Mr Cromarty to a member of the medical staff and have been able to maintain your plea of not guilty during a long trial,” he said.

“In the course of it you gave evidence, vigorously denying the killing. I will add that you did so before that for a considerable time, in particular over seven and a half hours of police questioning, despite knowing you were guilty.”

Judge McKinnon said although the question of diminished responsibility as a defence was never raised at the trial, Muhamed’s psychiatric condition was a factor that had to be taken into account.

The starting point of an 18-year minimum term could be reduced, he said, because Muhamed’s “murderous culpability” was significantly reduced.

Judge McKinnon added: “You have shown not the slightest remorse.”

No. 67 Kingsley Road has a chilling history. Michael Allen, who murdered Cara Hepworth, 17, in May 1994, lived there. Two years before, another resident, James Ingram, was jailed for life for the murder of 79-year-old widow Edith Barrow.