A TEENAGER was given a life sentence for battering a pensioner to death after a judge did not accept his claims that he thought the victim was horror film villain Freddie Krueger. 

Anthony Hallard, 19, of Rainhill Road, was ordered to serve at least nine years after being sentenced for manslaughter for the “brutal killing” of David Rimmer, 69.

Hallard, who has schizophrenia, will be detained in a secure hospital until he is well enough to be transferred to prison.

Hallard, who admitted the charge on the basis of diminished responsibility  killed former prison officer David Rimmer at the victim's home on Borough Road, St Helens on Friday, September 13, 2013.

Hallard said he hit the former prison officer with a Bacardi bottle after Mr Rimmer had tried to strangle him.

Inside the flat, police found Rimmer dead with severe head injuries and covered in blood.

Mr Justice Edis said Hallard’s schizophrenia played a part in his actions but did not believe he thought Rimmer to be Nightmare of Elm Street character Freddie Krueger at the time of the killing.

The judge did concede Hallard may have come to believe this in the months after the killing when his mental condition deteriorated. 

In passing sentence Mr Justice Edis said that he considered Hallard a danger to the public.

He said: “This was a brutal killing and I am sure that drink played its part and the illness. 

“There are factors other than the illness capable of causing you to act violently enough in a situation comparable. 

“You knew exactly who it was you killed and your account was simply not true. This leads me to think you were thinking clearly to give an account to minimise your blame.

“Because your responsibility is diminished that reduced your culpability but your responsibility is still substantial.” 

Hallard, who was 18 at the time of the killing, had been a male escort and heavy cannabis user. He remained silent while the sentence was passed.

He was initially due to stand trial for murder but changed his guilty plea to manslaughter on the grounds of “diminished responsibility” which was accepted by the prosecution.