A TEENAGE boy who tried to commit the "perfect murder" has been convicted in a case which police said was "horrific".

The boy killed a woman at her home in Notts by hitting her over the head with a hammer, before setting her body alight.

He admitted the killing, but said it was not murder because he had lost self-control.

However, after eight hours of deliberation a jury at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday unanimously found him guilty of murder.

"The level of violence, the degree of planning and the extent of his lies is not only shocking, but it's also chilling that a boy could do this," said Detective Chief Inspector Kate Meynell. "I've never dealt with something like this and I'm not aware of any other case in this country. We think he thought he could commit the perfect murder and get away with it."

The boy was obsessed with Coronation Street villain John Stape, who killed someone with a hammer, and had written a story about killing a woman this way.

After the verdict was delivered the boy, who cannot be named, cried out: "That's wrong. I'll appeal this."

He will be sentenced on April 2.

• FULL STORY: Hammer killing: How Notts teenager's murder fantasy became reality