A drug dealer and his lover have been jailed for life for murdering a boy and dumping his body in a recycling bin.
Scott Hancox, 35, and Amanda Allden, 29, were found guilty at Worcester Crown Court in May 2009, of killing 17-year-old Nathan Lyons, of Birmingham.
Drug dealer Hancox, of Fownhope Close, Redditch, and Allden, of Burcot Lane, Bromsgrove, were given minimum tariffs of 17 and Allden 15 years respectively.
They also received concurrent sentences of three years and three-and-a-half years after admitting perverting the course of justice.
'Viciously attacked'
Their trial was told Nathan had been employed by a Birmingham gang to mind to drugs that had been sent to Hancox.
 Nathan Lyons' body was found in a waste depot in London |
The prosecution said he was murdered in Hancox's flat on either 30 April or 1 May after it is thought he refused to hand over drugs to the defendants.
Both lovers had blamed each other for the murder but they were both found guilty by a jury on Tuesday.
Mr Justice Penry-Davey said Hancox had "viciously attacked" Nathan Lyons with a wooden club and had been encouraged by Allden.
He said both were "driven by the need for more and more drugs".
Nathan's body was then dumped by the pair in a rubbish bin and his body was found after travelling more than 150 miles through the recycling system to Craydord, in south-east London.
In a statement, Nathan's aunt Jacky Lyons said: "Nathan was one of 11 children and, because of other people's greed and addiction to class A drugs, our Nathan was brutally murdered.
"We cannot find the words to express the pain we feel.
"In his short life he brought so much joy to everyone who knew him and he will never be forgotten."
Det Ch Insp Dave Morgan, of West Mercia Police, said: "They (the defendants) chose a life of crime and would literally go to any length to deal drugs so they could feed their habit.
"They were responsible for this horrific and frenzied attack which resulted in the brutal murder of Nathan Lyons and most people will feel their callous behaviour simply beggars belief."
