Laughing killer Lawrence Bourke filmed in prison boasting about chopping dad's head off

Laughing killer Lawrence Bourke filmed in prison boasting about chopping dad's head off EXCLUSIVE: Sadistic murderer Lawrence Bourke smiles on camera about how he decapitated landlord Scott Gilhooly, telling fellow inmates: "I chopped his ear off and put it in a sock" Shocking footage shows a sadistic killer boast in a prison video about chopping his victim's head off and kicking it "down the hallway". Lawrence Bourke was filmed laughing with fellow inmates as he described the sickening murder of a pub landlord, for which he is serving life with a minimum term of 25 years. The mutilated body of Scott Gilhooly, 44, was discovered at the Swiss Bell pub in Braintree, Essex, on May 17 2020. His lodger and "heavy drinker" Bourke, 24, was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court the following year after previously pleading guilty to murder. Now Lawrence has appeared in a short clip on Instagram, in which he stands in a prison corridor flanked by two fellow inmates. Asked what he is in jail for he replies: "I chopped his head off." When questioned about what he did with it, Lawrence laughs as he replies while performing a kicking motion: "I booted it down the hallway." Asked what he did next he added: "I chopped his ear off and put it in a sock." Prosecutor Andrew Jackson told Bourke's sentencing judge that he attacked the landlord with a knife and axe, and dismembered his body to "humiliate" him. The court heard that Scott suffered 70 stab and chop wounds, including to his heart, lungs and neck, while his ear was found in Bourke's sock. Sentencing him, judge Mr Justice Griffiths told Bourke, of Braintree, that he "took sadistic pleasure from what you were doing, and you carried on as Mr Gilhooly was dying and after he was dead". He said father-of-one Mr Gilhooly was a "joy to everyone" and the "life and soul of the party" who was "a constant source of support to his family and others". Addressing Bourke, who he described as a "terrible lodger", he added that the landlord was "generous to a fault, and you were one of those who benefited from his generosity and his kindness". "There was much more to him than his last day," the judge said, adding: "The happiness that he brought into the world. The good deeds he did." Mr Jackson told the court that In February 2019, Bourke, who was a pub regular, moved in as a lodger. The landlord "put up with" Bourke's heavy drinking and they lived together through the first coronavirus lockdown. On May 15, 2020, Scott told a friend he was "angry" at Bourke for buying the wrong paint to decorate the pub and because he was not paying his rent. "He had become fed up with the defendant and wanted him to either pay the rent or leave," Mr Jackson said. "It's plain that hours before the murder relations between the two men were at a very low ebb." Shortly after 8am on May 17, Bourke sent a series of Facebook messages to his sister boasting about the murder. One read: "I just stabbed Scott to death ha ha ha ha," while another said: "I loved killing him." He asked his sister to keep this "a secret", but she drove with their father to the pub where they called 999. Mr Jackson described the "very grim" scene police officers found upstairs. "Mr Gilhooly's headless body was lying on his front on the floor of his bathroom," he said. "Mr Gilhooly was naked, there were clearly a number of large open wounds to his back. "Mr Gilhooly's head was on a bed in the defendant's bedroom and embedded in it was the axe." While being arrested, Bourke, who had blood on his hands and clothing, "tried to engage officers in jokes and laughter", the court was told. A Prison Service spokesperson said on Tuesday: "Having a phone behind bars is unacceptable and we have ordered the immediate removal of these posts while investigating how this was able to happen. “We are investing around £75 million in physical security measures to clamp down on illicit items and those who break prison rules can face extra time behind bars.”