Murderer was high on drink, drugs and solvents

Imposing the minimum life tariff at Antrim Crown Court, sitting in Belfast on Monday, Lord Justice Girvan told 21-year-old Glen Allen that no matter what the history, "nothing justified the frenzied attack" on William Meek in June 2008 which lead to his death in "horrible circumstances".

Earlier this year Allen, from Glenarm Avenue in Portrush, pleaded guilty to murdering 35-year-old Mr Meek on a date unknown between June 23-26 2008 and to wounding him with intent on February 13, 2008.

Prosecuting QC, Richard Weir, told the court that in February, Allen and Mr Meek met "by chance" and drank together in a disabled toilet on Portrush's East Strand.

According to Mr Meek, he was attacked "for no reason" as he walked away in the early hours of the morning, sustaining 14 stab wounds to his head and neck but defence SC Philip Magee told the court that Allen claimed he had awoken to find Mr Meek allegedly sexually interfering with him.

Mr Weir said Allen was released on bail over that attack but that four months later on June 25, the pair again met "entirely by accident" on Causeway Street and Allen began "remonstrating" with Mr Meek over the alleged attack and the pair ended up drinking together in Mr Meek's flat.

The Fire Service were called to the flat at around 6.15am and Mr Meek was dragged from it with his head and face covered in blood, said the lawyer and he was pronounced dead at the scene an hour later.

He told the court the investigation revealed that Mr Meek had suffered 51 stab wounds to his head, face and neck but that a pathologist had opined that the most likely fatal wound had penetrated "almost the entire breadth" of his skull and brain.

The Fire Service found two seats of fire, one downstairs and one on the matress upon which Mr Meeks was lying and the lawyer added that the pathologist found soot in Mr Meek's lungs, indicating that he was probably still alive when Allen set fire to his flat.

Allen was found about an hour later, lying "comatose" under a hedge in a garden in Dhu Varren Park South and was arrested for the murder which he denied during police interviews.

Mr Weir told the court that in the Crown view, the murder was aggravated because of the extensive and multiple injuries inflicted, the fact that Allen tried to destroy the crime scene and because of the previous assault and his criminal record which has convictions for assault, robbery and burglary.

Mr Magee said it was clear that Allen the "deeply resented" the previous sexual assault and that when he went into Mr Meek's flat in June after meeting him by "pure and horrible mischance," he "just flipped and saw red" after Mr Meek invited him into his bed.

"There was a knife on the floor and he ran after him and repeatedly, unforgivably stabbed the deceased in an uncontrolled way because in his drunken state, he felt provoked," said the lawyer.

He told the court that on the night of the killing, Allen had left a family gathering after an argument and had consumed up to 30 tins of beer, two cans of gas and three grammes of cocaine, leaving him in a condition described by one witness as "out of his head" and talking "gobbledy-gook".

In jailing Allen for at least 14-and-a-half years, Lord Justice Girvan said it was clear that Mr Meek's death had caused "considerable pain and suffering" to his family.

He warned Allen however that even at the end of the minimum term, it will be a matter for the Parole Commissioners Board if he is released but that he will be subject to "stringent licence conditions" for the rest of his life which, if breached, will result in him being put back in jail.