Vic: Man jailed for murdering lover over sex tapes

AAP General News (Australia)
02-16-2006
Vic: Man jailed for murdering lover over sex tapes

MELBOURNE, Feb 16 AAP - A Melbourne man who murdered a male lover after discovering
their sexual encounters were being secretly filmed has been jailed for at least 11 years.

Gregory Robert Webb, 26, strangled 43-year-old Jason King in the older man's Croydon
lounge room after they watched pornography and drank alcohol together on February 3 last
year.

Webb, formerly of Dandenong, pleaded guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court to murder.

Sentencing Webb to a maximum jail term of 15 years, with a minimum of 11 years, Justice
Robert Osborn today described the murder as a "savage and deliberate killing".

The former builder's labourer, whom the court was told sold sex to Mr King to pay for
drugs, became angry after he discovered Mr King had been filming their encounters with
a hidden video camera in his lounge room, the court was told.

Webb stopped seeing Mr King after discovering he was being filmed.

He then tried to turn his life around by finding employment as a builder's labourer.

On the night of the murder he went to Mr King's home to confront him, the court was told.

"In your record of interview you told police that you could not handle the build-up
of embarrassment at having engaged in sexual acts with another man," Justice Osborn said.

"You felt particular anger that he had video-recorded your engaging in such acts. In
your own words he had jeopardised a secret."

Webb dumped Mr King's naked body in a roadside ditch in Lyndhurst, south-east of Melbourne,
where it was discovered 13 days later.

He also stole several items from Webb's home including compact discs, a video recorder,
a DVD player and a mobile phone.

Justice Osborn said Webb abused Mr King's trust and hospitality, inflicted pain and
terror upon him and robbed his home and "disposed of his body as if it were rubbish".

He said he also took into account Webb's emotional vulnerability at the time of the
offence, his expressions of remorse, his plea of guilty and good prospects of rehabilitation.

Webb's lawyer said earlier her client was not homosexual and engaged in sex acts with
Mr King in order to get money for drugs.

AAP mf/dk/jt/sp

KEYWORD: WEBB

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