Jailed: 25-stone killer who took selfie after he tortured academic over Wind In The Willows book

Gruesome: Michael Danaher took a selfie after he murdered Adrian Greenwood in Oxford
Thames Valley Police
Jamie Bullen25 October 2016
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A 25-stone killer who captured a selfie moments after he tortured and stabbed a book dealer in a brutal plot to steal a £50,000 edition of the Wind In The Willows was today jailed for 34 years.

Michael Danaher, 50, murdered historian Adrian Greenwood in April after he visited his house in Oxford to take the valuable 108-year-old copy of the Kenneth Grahame classic.

Thames Valley Police today released the chilling photograph he took just moments after he carried out the killing which shows his blood-stained beard.

The Oxford graduate suffered more than 30 injuries after he was stabbed at least 16 times in the throat and chest.

Killer: Michael Danaher was sentenced to 34 years in prison
Thames Valley Police

His body was found by his cleaner the following day - the same day Danaher stole the Wind In The Willows book and put it up for sale on EBay.

Oxford Crown Court heard Mr Greenwood was among a list compiled by Danaher of high-profile targets for theft and robbery demands after he spiralled into a £13,000 debt.

Victim: Adrian Greenwood
Thames Valley Police

Other people on the spreadsheet included supermodel Kate Moss and author and former Conservative politician Jeffrey Archer.

Danaher also researched online the homes of TV presenters Eamonn Holmes and Michael Parkinson, footballer Rio Ferdinand and music mogul Simon Cowell.

Judge Ian Pringle QC, handing down a life sentence for the April 6 killing, said Danaher had stabbed his victim at least 16 times, plus numerous further "persuasion marks" made with a knife point.

He said: "Despite the fact that at 50 you had no previous convictions, warnings or cautions of any sort, it's clear that during the course of 2015 you drew up this list - probably to rob or burgle people - or perhaps kidnap people and hold them to ransom, so as to gain funds for yourself.

Targets: Kate Moss and Jeffrey Archer were listed as potential targets for extortion by Michael Danaher
PA

"It's clear from the timeline in this case you became almost obsessive about keeping up on famous celebrities.

"You inflicted upon Adrian Greenwood torture by way of the stab wounds, the knife-tip stab wounds,that he had on him."

Danaher's lawyer Amjad Malik QC had earlier told the court that because of his weight and related poor health, including diabetes, he would have "serious problems" in prison.

The jury took three hours to convict him of murder after a three-week trial.

He received a concurrent seven-year sentence for possession of an offensive weapon.

The prosecution offered no evidence to a further charge of blackmail.

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