A Lithuanian builder has admitted the double murder of a married couple with a kitchen knife in an act of revenge for the break up of his marriage.

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Killed as they slept: Patrick and Gillian Kettyle 

Viktoras Bruzas, now 39, pleaded guilty to killing Patrick Kettyle, 55, and his wife Gillian, 54, who were found at their home in the Copse, Fetcham, shortly after midnight on Thursday, November 27.

He had been drinking with his flatmate the night before, and had consumed about two bottles of wine before he got up, his flatmate assuming he had gone to bed. 

Prosecutor Alan Kent said: "He had, we say, picked up a knife from the kitchen, drove from his home address in Walton on Thames to Fetcham, and parked his car out of sight a short distance from the Fetcham home address."

He was then captured on CCTV, which had been installed following Bruzas' previous harassment in 2012, arriving and leaving the couple's home on November 27.

Mr Kent said Bruzas broke into the home and made his way to the bedroom, where Mr and Mrs Kettyle were sleeping.

He said: "The defendant stabbed them both multiple times all over the body."

The couple's son, who was 16 at the time and cannot be named for legal reasons, heard the struggles from the bedroom and threw himself against his bedroom door in fear his life was in danger.

The force of the attack was so brutal the knife broke in two places, the court heard, but Mrs Kettyle "survived long enough to shout bravely to her son who was on the other side of the door and tell him to call the police".

Judge Spencer said CCTV showed Bruzas was "in the house for just six minutes, but in that time you snuffed out two precious lives."

After the attack was over, the Kettyles' son heard an eastern European voice he recognised addressing him through the closed door.

He heard: “I have no issue with you boy or your mother. It’s Patrick who ruined my life.”

Bruzas, who worked for the couple as a builder when he first came to the UK, having been recommended by a neighbour, blamed Patrick Kettyle for the breakdown of his marriage, after giving his wife a job and talking to her about her troubled marriage.

The pathologist concluded the injuries to be far more severe on Patrick than on Gillian. Postmortem examinations found the couple died from multiple stab wounds and the pathologist said injuries were consistent with a sustained attack. 

In a psychiatric report, the court heard Bruzas said he had got up early one morning in 2012 to check his wife’s emails.

He found emails and “flirtatious messages” from Mr Kettyle and drove to the Fetcham address to confront him. In 2013 he was given a police information order after sending threatening emails to Mr Kettyle in 2013. 

Mr Kent said a year later Bruzas was "intending to take the ultimate revenge on Patrick Kettyle and that is what he did".

Peter Wilcock QC, defending, said: "It is clear the defendant does not accept he had murder in mind when he left his house."

He added: "Whatever the right or wrongs it is clear the defendant struggled to cope with the end of his own marriage and this played a major role in the deterioration of his relationship with Patrick Kettyle."

Bruzas appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, April 1, to admit the charges.

The discovery of the bodies led to a search for Bruzas, of Brunswick Close, Walton, who was eventually found 18 hours later, at about 6pm, driving through Oxshott. A weapon was reportedly found near the home after a forensic search of the area.

When arrested he was recorded by police asking: "how long do you get for murder in this country?".

He had been in the country since 1989 and was a successful builder.

Mr Wilcock said Bruzas was a hard-working and unlikely candidate for this kind of crime.

He said: “The defendant accepts that there is little that can be said.”

He added: “He will have to live with that for the rest of his life. He knows what he has inflicted on the Kettyle family.”

Before he retired to make his decision, Judge Spencer said he was concerned not to have seen any remorse from the defendant in the psychiatric report.

Lusine Morris, 33, who lived next door to Bruzas and his wife for six years, in Terrace Road, Walton, said she was shocked when the search for Bruzas was initially launched.

She said at the time: “I’m shocked - it is unbelievable. Just can’t believe it. I am shocked because he had come into our home.

“He would knock and I’d let him in and you wouldn’t think twice.”

At sentencing, Mr Justice Spencer said: "I have to sentence you for two brutal murders, committed when you had broken into the home of your victims for the sole purpose of murdering one of them. For these grave offences there is only one sentence proscribed by law, life imprisonment."

He said Bruzas would serve a minimum of 33 years in jail, which had been reduced from 37 years because of his guilty plea and time already spent behind bars. 

He showed no emotion as the sentence was passed. 

A statement from the family, read out by Detective Chief Inspector Mark Preston following the sentencing, said: “We want to thank everyone for the overwhelming kindness and support that has been shown during this most difficult time.”

Det Chief Insp Preston said the family was pleased with the sentence.