A ‘vigilante’ who murdered a disabled man before setting his body on fire has been jailed for life.

Lee James, 24, beat Bijan Ebrahimi to death in Capgrave Crescent, Brislington, before dragging the body to nearby Whitmore Avenue and setting it alight with the aid of white spirit supplied by accomplice Stephen Norley, who celebrated his 25th birthday in his cell earlier this month.

Both men, who were neighbours in Capgrave Crescent, appeared at Bristol Crown Court this morning to be sentenced for their role in the sickening event that shocked the nation.

James was jailed for life and will serve a minimum of 18 years after admitting murdering Mr Ebrahimi, 44, while Norley, who admitted assisting an offender, was jailed for four years.

In a courtroom, packed with Mr Ebrahimi’s family and press reporters, Andrew Langdon QC, prosecuting, said James had told police he believed Mr Ebrahimi was filming his three daughters and that he was a paedophile.

He also spuriously claimed Mr Ebrahimi would deliberately take a long time watering his flowers so he could stare at children.

Lee James
Lee James

James had warned police on more than one occasion in the days leading up to Mr Ebrahimi's death that he was prepared to take matters into his own hands and go to jail because his family would be proud of him.

Despite being warned against this on July 14 he did just that, witnessed violently stamping on Mr Ebrihimi’s head as Norley looked on.

He returned to the body and begun punching him in the face before Norley pulled him away.

In a blind panic Norley acquired a bottle of white spirit and the two men dragged his lifeless body into Whitmore Avenue where his corpse was set alight.

They then took crude steps to get rid of their clothing and any evidence linking them to the crime and James told his partner he had “taken care of things”.

Stephen Norley
Stephen Norley

Sentencing James Mr Justice Simon told him: “I am satisfied this was a vigilante crime.

“You decided wrongly that Mr Ebrahimi was a paedophile which put him outside the law. You thought you would take the law into your own hands.

“What you did had nothing to do with the law or justice. Yours was an act of murderous injustice.”

He told Norley it was “mystery” how a well thought of man could have got mixed up in such a brutal crime and accepted he was “deeply ashamed of what he had done.”

“But the burning of a body of a man you new to be murdered is serious.”

Mr Justice Simon also expressed his condolences to the family of Mr Ebrahimi adding: “For most of us the case is over. For you I am afraid it never will be.”