Teen gets life for stabbing mother

• Tweet

WINCHESTER, England, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- A British teenager who stabbed his mother over and over must spend at least 15 years behind bars for her murder, a judge said Tuesday.

Kieren Smith, now 17, received a life sentence with a minimum of 15 years before he can be considered for release, the Daily Mirror reported. He was 16 when he stabbed his mother, Leah Whittle, 42, in July, striking her 94 times.

"You are guilty of a deeply shocking and truly dreadful offence -- that of killing your own mother in as brutal a way as can be imagined," Judge Guy Boney told him in Winchester Crown Court. "I am quite sure that something happened that caused you to lose your temper and resulted in this catastrophe. You have not shown a smidgen of remorse."

Smith shared a two-bedroom apartment in Weymouth, Dorset, with his mother. He said his mother was killed by a gang of "mystery men from Yorkshire" angry because his brother owed money for drugs.

Nicholas Haggan, Smith's attorney, called the teen "a very sad, lonely and unhappy individual." He said Smith spent most of his time in his room watching DVDs by himself.