Lodger, 30, is found guilty of murder after killing and dismembering his landlord, 71, before feeding his corpse to BADGERS and spending his life savings on alcohol, gambling and visits to a massage parlour

Daniel Walsh killed his landlord Graham Snell and then chopped his body up

A 30-year-old Derbyshire lodger who killed and chopped up his victim before shoving some of his body parts down a badger sett has been found guilty of murder.

Daniel Walsh killed his landlord Graham Snell and then caught a taxi to DIY stores to buy two handsaws which he used to dismember the 71-year-old.

He then went on to bury parts of his body in woodland in Chesterfield, and spent the money he stole from his victim at a casino, arcades in Matlock, Derbyshire, and at a massage parlour.

A jury took just over an hour to unanimously find him guilty of murder following a near three-week retrial at Derby Crown Court.

Judge Nirmal Shant QC, Honrary Recorder of Derby, remanded him into custody and will sentence him on Monday.

Prosecutor Peter Joyce QC, opening the case on November 23, said: 'The cause of death is unascertained because there were so many body parts, but we know what he did.

Prosecutors said: 'Many parts of Graham Snell's body were either buried or pushed down into various parts of a badger sett'

'He killed him, he chopped him up and fed him to the badgers. What you will hear is absolutely awful and what he did was murder.

'It was murder to get his hands on this man's money.'

Mr Joyce said on June 19, last year Mr Snell, who was 71, single and retired, went to Chesterfield police station.

He said he complained that Walsh had been stealing from his bank account and asked to see a police officer.

Mr Joyce said an officer went to the Marsden Street address, in Chesterfield, the following morning, but there was no answer and calls to Mr Snell's mobile phone went straight to answerphone.

Mr Joyce said: 'By that time, 9.30am on June 20 Graham Snell was dead and it is the prosecution's case that he had been killed by Mr Walsh, about whom he had made the complaint.'

He said just over an hour later Walsh, who had not answered the door to the officer despite being inside, left the house and walked to Wickes DIY store where he bought 10 rubble sacks and two saws which he took back to the address.

Walsh 'took himself away from the horror' of killing and dismembering the pensioner by visiting the Club Paradise massage parlour in Sheffield

Mr Joyce said: 'What did he want the saws and the sacks for?

'He wanted the saws to cut through the bones of the dead body of Graham Snell and the sacks to put parts of his body in then carry them away.'

Mr Joyce said two days later Walsh caught a train to Birmingham where he tried and failed to obtain an emergency passport.

He said by June 24 the disposal of Mr Snell's body began.

Mr Joyce said: 'Many parts of Graham Snell's body were either buried or pushed down into various parts of a badger sett.

Prosecutors said Walsh visited the massage parlour, pictured, having spent his victim's life savings on alcohol and gambling

Walsh spent some of Mr Snell's money on visiting the above massage parlour

'Later the police and the Royal Engineers were to spend nearly a month examining the badger sett. The head and arms were buried in parts of a wood a little way away.

'On July 2, the remainder of Mr Snell's torso in three parts was recovered inside three black bags from the main rubbish bins that services flats in Oakamoor Close.'

Mr Joyce said in the following days Walsh made trips to casinos in Sheffield and arcades in Matlock Bath where he spent 'a considerable amount of money he managed to obtain from Graham Snell's accounts after his death'.

Mr Joyce told the jury how Walsh was jailed for six months in 2009 for stealing £5,000 from Mr Snell and in 2014 he was convicted of assaulting the same victim by punching him twice to the head.

Police called to Mr Snell's house in Chesterfield, pictured, the day after he reported his problems with Walsh. Prosecutors said Walsh had already murdered the 71-year-old pensioner and was about to begin dismembering his body