A former Polish soldier who battered his housemate to death before burying him in their Wembley back garden was jailed for life today.

Wojciech Sokolowski, 35, battered Jurij Grigorjev to death in their rented home after he admitted raping a five-year-old girl.

The18 stone father-of-one repeatedly beat his victim open palms, fists and knees, before leaving him in a shallow grave just meters from the scene of the crime.

Ordering Sokolowski serve a minimum of 16 years before he can be considered for parole Judge Timothy Pontius said: 'Whether or not Mr Grigorjev was a paedophile we can not be sure, although evidence from a number of witnesses tends to support the suggestion he may have been.

The two men had been drinking together with other friends when Grigorjev, 28, confessed to friends he liked to have sex with children and bragged about raping the little girl.

In a fit of anger, Sokolowski, who has an eight-year-old daughter, accused him of being a paedophile, before launching the relentless barrage of blows.

Others in the room tried to stop him but they could not prevent the Pole from battering the victim to death, the Old Bailey heard.

One housemate said the victim's face was 'all mashed up' and Sokolowski had blood on his arms up to the elbow.

He shouted insults at his victim even as he sat senseless on the sofa accusing him of attacking the little girl.

Later that night, together with at least two other men Sokolowski dragged the body into the huge garden at the back of the house, in Wembley Park Drive.

The property was eventually sold and the garden was being cleared when a twelve-year-old boy dug up Grigorjev's skull, in August last year.

Parts of the dead man's jeans and pants were still on his body and there was even a £5 note in the pocket of his leather jacket.

His teeth were chipped and several of his ribs were fractured but he cause of death could not be ascertained.

Sokolowski, who has his daughter's name tattooed on his arm, had moved a few streets away to Grasmere Road and he was arrested nearby on December 11, almost a year after the killing.

The Pole claimed he had been at the house but had left before the attack and said witnesses who saw him killing the victim had lied.