THE Eve Howells murder was a brutal killing which shocked not only Huddersfield but the entire country.

Fifteen-year-old schoolboy Glenn Howells killed his mother by battering her head at least 12 times with a hammer.

John, then just 14, helped him to cover his tracks by disposing of the weapon and clothing.

Both boys then tried to make the attack look like a burglary gone wrong, tipping over a bureau and claiming £100 had been stolen.

But police never believed them and secretly taped conversations between Glenn, John and their father, David - whom it was alleged stood to gain financially from his wife's death - which pointed towards their guilt.

It is thought to be the first time a man and two sons had teamed up to kill his wife and their mother.

David Howells has always denied he had any role in the murder,

But the trial judge, Mr Justice Alliott, was in no doubt David Howells was the prime mover behind the killing.

As he passed sentence he told him: "You were the instigator of this appalling crime and you suborned your sons into doing what they did.

"Over a period of months, if not years, you so groomed and indoctrinated their young minds in that they did what you wanted.

"They acted out what to them initially must have been unthinkable while you were safely beyond suspicion as a participant."

The judge added: "There can be nothing more vile than to get your sons to kill their mother unless, as is apparent from the covert tapes, you cheerfully contemplated their long detention while you went free.

"Not withstanding any deficiencies in the deceased as a wife and a mother, she did nothing to warrant the terrible death she suffered."

While in jail, Glenn has continued to deny that his father and brother conspired with him to commit the offence.

At a review in 2002, when his prison term was reduced by a year, Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, said: "Glenn feels that he should have been convicted of manslaughter and not murder, but states that he accepts full responsibility for his mother's death and that she did not deserve what had happened.

"He states that he saw no other way of stopping the abuse he and his brother endured."

The original trial at Leeds Crown Court heard that all three had been bullied by Eve, a teacher at Newsome High School, and had suffered years of mental torture.

Her behaviour - partly explained by an eating disorder that saw her weight plummet to six stones - included padlocking the fridge.

She was often heard screaming abuse at the boys.

She had also been having an affair with her husband's best friend - Russell Hirst - something David always claimed he knew nothing about until told by police investigating her death.

In 2002, the brothers had their jail sentences cut after a review by Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice.

He said John, now 23, had played a "lesser part" in the offence and was obviously influenced by his father and brother.

His tariff was reduced from the previously set seven years to 6½ years.

Glenn, who is now 24, had his tariff reduced from 10 years to nine years.

The pair were originally ordered to be detained during Her Majesty's Pleasure at the end of their four-week trial in February 1997.