Law student who murdered father sentenced to life

A law student who murdered his father to escape his "controlling influence" and buried his body in the garden of the family home was today jailed for life. Mark Alexander was told he would serve at least 16 years for killing his 70-year-old father, Samuel. Passing sentence at Reading crown court, Judge John Reddihough said he accepted that the 22-year-old may have been in fear of his father but added that, after his death, he had acted in a "despicable, callous and sometimes cunning manner". Alexander remained impassive as he was taken to the cells. After killing his father, the law student placed his partly-burnt body in plastic bags before burying the remains in concrete in the garden of the family home, the court was told. Severe damage had been caused to his father's skull before his death. To cover up the murder, Alexander sent Christmas cards purported to be from his father. However, police were alerted by residents of Prospect Close, in the village of Drayton Parslow, Buckinghamshire, who became concerned that they had not seen Samuel Alexander since a garden party in August 2009. The remains of the former lecturer were found in February this year. The jury was told that Alexander was highly ambitious for his son, who attended the prestigious Rugby school in Warwickshire. He kept him away from other children while he was growing up, saw no room for girlfriends in his life and regularly boasted to neighbours about his studies, the court was told. John Price, prosecuting, described Samuel Alexander as a "complex and, in many ways, a very, very difficult man". He told the jury: "Samuel kept himself and his son apart. The picture is of the father and son living together in this house, more or less isolated from those who lived around and about him." After Samuel Alexander became ill, his son became responsible for "nursing duties" and continued to live at their detached house while studying for a law and French degree at King's College, London. He had intended to study in Paris as part of his degree but his father stepped in, trying to insist that he lived with a family rather than on campus. Price said the student murdered his father so he could "lead the life that he wanted to lead".