A man sneaked into his grandmother's house while she slept and suffocated her with a belt before buring her house down to gain inheritance. Joshua Powell has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 26 years with his mother declaring she will struggle to forgive him.

Powell, 27, killed 96-year-old Emma Finch and then set fire to her home in Mill Road, Liss, Hampshire, in the early hours of May 17 last year. The 27-year-old would visit his grandmother, whom he called oma, once a week, and called her the "one constant in my life that I could count on", in an apology letter he wrote to Portsmouth Crown Court. The court heard he was in debt, owed money to his landlord and "snapped".

Judge Michael Bowes KC said: "Emma Finch, your grandmother, showed you great kindness and gave you a great deal of money during her life.

"You repaid her kindness by savagely killing her in the expectation of gaining money from her death under her will."

Family members said in victim impact statements read out by the prosecutor that they will never forgive Powell. The defendant's mother, Catherine Powell, who is Ms Finch's daughter, said she "will struggle ever to forgive him for what he has done".

Peter Finch, Ms Finch's son and Powell's uncle, said: "One of my biggest fears is that mum in those final seconds before she lost consciousness as you were strangling her, that she knew it was you Joshua and that being her final, haunting memory that she took to her grave.

"You, Joshua, betrayed your mum's, your oma's, love that night and that is something for which I can never forgive you.
"I hope you are deeply tormented by those acts for the rest of your life. "Did my mum, your oma, really deserve to be murdered for the balance of your inheritance? The question that only you can answer."

In his letter to the court, Powell called his crime "unforgivable", adding that he does not expect forgiveness from his heartbroken family members.

He said: "The word sorry does not even begin to cover how I feel for the unforgivable, truly horrible crime I committed," the defendant wrote.

"Oma was the one constant in my life that I could count on. She was there for me no matter how good or bad I behaved as a child. She was a wonderful, caring, loving, happy woman who when entering a room suddenly brightened it up tenfold.

"Forgiveness is not something I expect from any member of the family. Not even I forgive the actions I took on that fateful day.

"The guilt is something I will have to learn to live with. It eats away at me, gnawing my bran and thoughts every single second each day.

"From the bottom of my now destroyed heart and soul I truly am sorry."

The court heard that Powell was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome and found to have reduced cognitive function, but the judge said he "knew perfectly well the difference between right and wrong".

Powell, of Elmfield Court, Lindford, pleaded guilty in May to murdering his grandmother.