A teenager who beat a Northamptonshire man with a hammer after he confronted him about his anti-social behaviour has been sentenced to life for his murder.

Ricky Anderson, 17, who can be named after a judge lifted an order protecting his identity, was ordered to serve at least nine years and two months by Northampton Crown Court after admitting the murder of 65-year-old Peter Bryan in Higham Ferrers.

Four other youths who admitted involvement in the attack, including Mr Anderson's older brother, were also put behind bars.

Mr Bryan, from Saffron Road, Higham Ferrers, was attacked in an alley off Vine Hill Drive in the town on November 27 last year - just 300 metres from his home. The court heard he confronted a gang of youths who were kicking his gate and later went to find where they had gone, to help police.

But when he found Mr Anderson at his house in the town, the teenager called his friends and then went to confront Mr Bryan in a nearby alleyway.

The group set about Mr Bryan, 65, punching him, and Mr Anderson beat him with a hammer he had taken with him - breaking his arm and fracturing his skull.

One of the gang called an ambulance and Mr Bryan was taken to hospital, but died in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford on December 15.

Earlier this week at the start of a murder trial, Mr Anderson's older brother Jamie, 20; Darren Watts, 18, of Rushden; Nicholas Riley, 17, of Stevenage; and Kyle Clinton, of Rushden, all pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

Jamie Anderson was sentenced to a total of 18 months in prison - 14 for an offence of affray and four for a previous offence of common assault. Mr Watts was sentenced to 28 months for violent disorder, and Mr Clinton and Mr Riley were both given sentences of 12-month detention and training orders for the same charge.