A "MINDLESS" yob from West Ealing who kicked and punched an Uxbridge man to death has been jailed for life.

Daryl O'Connor, 20, went out of his way to attack Tarsen Nahar, punching him twice in the head as they crossed in the street in Uxbridge, and then repeatedly kicking him in the head as he lay on the ground.

The attack was the culmination of weeks of anti-social behaviour in the area by O'Connor, who targeted vulnerable people in the area for abuse.

Detective Inspector Tim Dobson, an officer in the case, said: "He had been causing problems over a prolonged period, his behaviour was totally outrageous.

"He was a yob who needed to be restrained."

O'Connor attacked Mr Nahar, 44, known locally by the nickname "Cookie" who was part of a group of street drinkers, on May 19 last year.

He was found at his home in College Way, Hayes, later that day, having died from a subdural haemorrhage suffered in the attack.

O'Connor, of Peal Gardens, West Ealing, was responsible for a catalogue of offences in the area before and even after the attack which killed Cookie.

He was caught on camera abusing shoppers, kicking cars and urinating against a wall, and after the attack he was seen abusing a man on a bus.

Two weeks before his death, Cookie was attacked by O'Connor in Uxbridge, and detectives discovered he had pointed out the yob to friends shortly before his death as the man who kept beating him up.

DI Dobson said: "This man needed to be put away because he was making life very difficult for people living in the area, leading up to the killing of Cookie for no reason whatsoever."

One of O'Connor's friends who was with him on the day of the murder was persuaded to testify against him at the trial at the Old Bailey.

O'Connor was found guilty of murder and a separate count of actual bodily harm for the attack on Cookie two weeks earlier.

He was given a life sentence on Wednesday, July 16, and will spend at least 13 years behind bars.