A COURT was told how killer Ian Roberston sent text messages to his employer after not turning up to work revealing that he had murdered someone in his house.

"Monster" Ian Robertson, 33, of Beilby Road, Haydock was jailed yesterday (Thursday) for the horrific murder of Robert Sempey on the night of Friday, January 19 of this year.

Mr Sempey, who had become reacquainted with former friend Robertson at The Swan pub in St Helens earlier in the day, had gone to Robertson's home to continue drinking before events took a violent and tragic turn.

Robertson callously stabbed Mr Sempey at least 12 times in the head, throat and chest - as well as filming a "sadistic" video of his victim's final moments.

The body of Mr Sempey was then dragged into the back garden and hidden under two doors.

As concerns for Mr Semey's welfare arose the following day, Roberston lied to his partner and police, claiming Robert had got a taxi from his home in the early hours.

At the sentencing, prosecutor Christopher Tehrani told the court about "bizarre" text messages which Robertson sent to a colleague the day after the murder, which led to police discovering Mr Sempey's body.

On the Saturday night, Robertson received a text from his employer asking "Is everything OK mate? Alex said that you wasn’t in work today because of a family emergency".

Robertson replied: "If you want to know the truth mate I murdered someone in my house last night and now I need to fix it".

In the exchange his employer responded: "F******g hell mate lol, you are good at winding me up" before Robertson sent photographs of Mr Sempey's body lying in the sitting room.

This led to his colleague alerting the police who went round to the property and found the body in the garden.

In sentencing Robertson to life, with a minimum of 21 years before being eligible for parole, judge Andrew Menary called Robertson's revealing of the murder in the texts "bizarre".

He said: "Your employer contacted you out of concern for your welfare and you responded with a series of texts in which bizarrely you revealed to him what you had done".