A double killer jailed over the death of a well-known company boss during a burglary in south Essex has been allowed to bid for freedom just six years into his second life sentence.

Andrew McVicar, 35, was handed a life sentence for killing Tim Smith in Hullbridge 2018 - almost two decades after he murdered 20-year-old Tony Harrington with a broken bottle.

Mr Smith was knocked unconscious on March 19, 2017, after hitting his head on a low wall outside his friend's home in The Drive as he was pushed by one of the masked, armed raiders. The 57-year-old grandfather died in hospital the following day from a brain injury.

Victim - Tim SmithVictim - Tim Smith (Image: Family handout)

McVicar, formerly of Dewsgreen, Basildon, was jailed alongside Colin Garrod, formerly of Crowborough Road, Southend, to life with 12 years in prison and a minimum of six years to be served before being eligible for parole for manslaughter, affray and possession of an imitation firearm.

This was nineteen years after McVicar, then aged 15, murdered Mr Harrington by stabbing him with a broken bottle in Dunstable on Christmas Eve 1999.

Now, the 40-year-old could be released in a number of months in a parole review, the Mirror reports.

Scene - The Drive, HullbridgeScene - The Drive, Hullbridge (Image: Essex Police)

In 2018 Mr Harrington's mother, Julie Sinfield, told the Echo McVicar should never have been set free to kill again.

Mr Smith, who owned building suppliers Doors, Floors and Stairparts, in London Road, Pitsea,  was a well-known figure in Hullbridge and described by his friends as "supportive", "genuine" and a "lovely bloke".

McVicar and Garrod were wearing balaclavas and carrying imitation firearms, and took a holdall believed to contain £50,000 from the property after Mr Smith had been pushed over. 

The pair went on spending sprees in Livingstone and Basildon in the days following the incident, buying £3,000 worth of designer goods.