TWO men found guilty of the "callous and totally needless" murder of Prabjot Rayat in Thamesmead have today been jailed for life.

Robert Burrows, 34, of Lower Park Road and Henry Collins, 40, of Mounts Road in Greenhithe, murdered the 54-year-old at his business Rayat Autos when a robbery to fund Class A drugs "went terribly wrong."

The pair denied murder and manslaughter but were found guilty of murder following a seven-week trial at Wood Green Crown Court.

They will serve a minimum of 23 years behind bars, with eight years in prison for robbery running concurrently.

Father-of-three Mr Rayat, 54, was attacked at his business in Nathan Way shortly after 3am on June 8 last year.

A post-mortem examination the following day showed Mr Rayat, who lived in Bexleyheath, died from a stab wound.

Sentencing Burrows and Collins this morning, Judge Nicholas Browne said: "This is not a case where I find there was an intent to kill but an intent to cause real serious bodily harm.

"Although robbery was clearly in your mind, I have considered that really serious bodily harm was not planned.

"You both have displayed not an ounce of remorse and have spent the whole trial seeking to put the blame on the other."

A third defendant, Surinder Chana, 44, of Lower Park Road in Belvedere denied charges of murder, manslaughter, conspiracy to rob and robbery but was found guilty of robbery by jurors at the same trial.

The charge of conspiracy to rob will remain on file.

Summarising the case ahead of sentencing, Judge Browne said: "By all accounts Mr Rayat was a hard working man who ran an MOT test and motor repairs business.

"He had his human frailties which consisted of a very serious problem with alcohol and a tendency to stay over night, alone, in his own business.

"He was known to keep not an unsubstantial amount of money in his safe and he was a vulnerable target to unscrupulous Class A drug users as you both were."

Mr Rayat was under the influence of "a considerable quantity" of whiskey at the time of the attack.

Burrows and his partner Chana - who had known Mr Rayat for around 15 years - recruited Collins to join them when they visited the victim for the first time on the night in an attempt to scam him of money.

Collins noticed the safe in his office and saw the potential of "robbing him of a substantial sum of money" that could be used to fund the two men's cocaine habit.

Judge Browne told the pair: "Having consumed yet further drugs in the early hours you decided to return to Rayat Autos with robbery in mind. Chana was the means by which entry was gained.

"You, Burrows, went armed with a screwdriver to facilitate the robbery. I'm unsure whether you, Collins, went there with a knife or whether you picked a knife up in the office."

But Mr Rayat refused to hand over the keys to his safe, which contained in the region of £200.

The judge continued: "The robbery was botched and within seconds turned into a callous and totally needless murder because Mr Rayat had thwarted the robbery.

"Burrows first grabbed Mr Rayat and put a screwdriver to his neck. I'm sure you, Collins, inflicted the fatal wound with the knife during the struggle."

Mr Rayat did not die from his wounds immediately and for some time remained alive.

Judge Browne told Collins and Burrows: "You could have telephoned to save him but your heartless and pitiless conduct is a shocking factor in this case.

"You abandoned Mr Rayat to die. All you were focused on was your next fix of cocaine."

In mitigation for Collins, Isobel Aschetson said: "This level of offending is far beyond anything this man has done in what has been a long history of offending at a low level.

"He is clearly relatively weak himself, self inflicted through use of Class A drugs."

Julian Hunt, defending Burrows added: "This matter was not pre meditated. It all went terribly wrong.

"The one hope for him is that he has a family which remain supportive of him.

"Appalling as his record is, this is the first offence of violence."

Chana will be sentenced at the same court on May 24.