Teenager was caught admitting horrific murder in Fareham while on phone to mum

The drug addict sunk a 20cm knife into his helpless victim Michael Deary five times – leaving him for dead in a pool of his own blood at his Omaha Close home in Fareham last August. The decomposed body was not found for another four days.

Pearce was today sent to jail for 17 years at Winchester Crown Court.

The homeless 17-year-old, who was yet to admit his crime, revealed his despicable deed to his mum in a series of chats over the phone.

‘This is what happens when you’ve got nothing to do,’ he said. ‘You do stupid things because you’ve got nothing to lose.’

In another phone call, his mum asked Pearce if he had really killed Michael, to which he replied ‘yeah’ and ‘clearly’.

On a further occasion Pearce revealed he was ‘high at the time’ and ‘police knew he had done it’.

He also confessed he regretted it and did it because he needed money for food.

Pearce came clean and admitted the murder in December ahead of a trial in February after overwhelming evidence.

Judge justice Julian Goose said at sentencing: ‘You were looking for somewhere to stay and you wanted to steal off the deceased but you knew you had to attack him as he would not give you the money.’

The court heard the brutal ambush was premeditated, though not to the extent of how things transpired.

Internet search history showed ruthless Pearce had looked up things like ‘how to hide fingerprints’ and ‘how long can you hold someone unconscious before dying’ prior to the murder.

He had also sought to steal money off the deceased by taking money out of his account via Paypal. Just hours before the murder, the victim and his murderer were seen on CCTV outside McDonalds in Fareham and then Asda where Michael withdrew £340. He was never seen alive again.

Meanwhile, ‘greed and selfishness’ and ‘miserable circumstances’ of having no money were said to be behind the horrific murder of Michael, according to Pearce’s barrister William Mousley QC.

He said: ‘He did not intend to kill him – he intended to cause serious injury but nothing on the scale of what took place.’

Mr Mousley said Pearce, who had no previous convictions, was ‘sorry for what he did’ and was ‘struggling to come to terms’ with it. He had even enquired about how deceased’s family were coping and admitted his crime was ‘horrible’ and had cried about it.

The barrister added that needing to ‘eat and repay his debt and no doubt buy more cannabis’ had sparked him into the disturbing action. ‘There was no serious planning but there was some premeditation. There was financial motive,’ he said.