Drug addict murderer who strangled dad to death handed 19 years in prison

A drug addict who strangled a much loved dad to death must serve at least 19 years in prison. Ian Connell, 39, was handed a life sentence after being unanimously convicted of murdering 45-year-old university graduate Donald 'Prentice' Patience.

Connell killed dad-of-three Mr Patience in a rage, after he had stopped giving him money. Mr Patience's body was only discovered about two days after he was thought to have been killed, after Connell was seen breaking into his victim's home and leaving with his pet dog.

Officers discovered Mr Patience's body in his home on Ainsworth Road in Radcliffe, Bury, after being called to reports of a burglary at about 11am on Tuesday, August 22 last year. Manchester Crown Court heard that Connell treated Mr Patience's body in a 'very undignified way' after the killing, spraying him with air spray and placing him inside a duvet cover before trying to move the body upstairs.

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He was eventually found at the bottom of the stairs. When questioned at the scene Connell lied to police, falsely claiming his victim was in Scotland.

The pair had known each other for a few years, and Connell regularly stayed at Mr Patience's home. Mr Patience, originally from Scotland, graduated from Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University as an actuary in 2001 but later became unwell due to the ‘high pressure’ career. He moved to Greater Manchester in 2005 and set up a Domino’s pizza franchise in Bury with one of his brothers.

But he later turned to alcohol and painkillers, after a car accident in 2015 left him unable to work. He had met his future wife Kirsty Banks through his work and they married in 2012, having three children.

But Ms Banks said their marriage broke