Neil Broomfield outside Bury Magistrates Court

A MURDERER sentenced to serve at least 16 years for beating to death a Sudbury drug addict is appealing his conviction.

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Neil Broomfield, formerly of Ballingdon Street, Sudbury, was found guilty of Patrick Baker’s murder by Ipswich Crown Court in February last year.

However, his co-accused Simon Barnes, 32, formerly of Raydon Way, Great Cornard, was cleared of murder, but convicted of manslaughter.

A spokeswoman for the Royal Courts of Justice in London said Broomfield, 34, has given notice that he will contest his murder conviction.

The appeal process is currently in its early stages.

The spokeswoman said: “Neil Broomfield has lodged an appeal against his conviction. No date has been set for a hearing.”

Mr Baker’s badly beaten body was found in his flat in Blackfriars, Sudbury, in April 2009.

At least 20 blows were inflicted to the 45-year-old’s head and body during an attack lasting 15 minutes. He sustained 10 broken ribs and fractures to his nose and lower face

However, at Broomfield’s sentencing last March, Judge John Devaux said there was insufficient evidence to enable the court to be sure that Mr Baker was tortured or tormented before he was killed.

Broomfield and Barnes had both denied murdering Mr Baker, who suffered from liver and lung disease.

Broomfield was giving a mandatory life sentence and told he would serve a minimum of 16 years before he could apply for parole. Barnes was jailed for nine years.

At the time Miranda Moore, for Barnes, said there was no clear evidence about who did what in the flat and there was no evidence that Barnes had struck any blows.

Steven Dyble, representing Broomfield, said there was no evidence of pre-meditation, or that anything had been stolen during the incident.

He said it was conceded by the prosecution that there was no intent to kill Mr Baker, and what happened was consistent with an intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

During the trial the court heard that Mr Baker was found lying face down in a pool of blood in his bedroom after police were called by a worried neighbour.

Barnes and Broomfield had spent the hours before Mr Baker’s death in pubs in Sudbury and were linked to the attack on Mr Baker by fibres from their clothing and DNA.