"Before this case I had associated cannibalism with eras long gone, with the tale of Robinson Crusoe. No longer," Stewart said. "You have plumbed depths rarely encountered in our court."
Morley attacked Oldfield, 33, during a night the pair spent together in April at Morley's home in the northern city of Leeds. Morley slit Oldfield's throat as he lay in his bed, stabbed him repeatedly and cooked some of his flesh.
Stewart rejected Morley's claim that he had been provoked when Oldfield unexpectedly initiated sexual contact after the pair watched "Brokeback Mountain," a film about two cowboys who try to conceal an affair. Morley claimed Oldfield's actions reawakened traumatic memories of childhood sex abuse and that he feared he was going to be raped.
After the attack, Morley walked into a nearby restaurant in a blood-spattered dressing gown, telling staff and police he had killed someone. In court, he claimed to have no memory of the attack or what he did with the body afterward.
The judge said the whole crime was "one of the most gruesome murders" he had ever encountered and called Morely a dangerous man who had yet to apologize for his crime. Morley hung his head as the sentence was read.
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