A 20-year-old man stabbed his step-grandmother 28 times in her own home in a sexually motivated attack after watching internet pornography.

Jack Huxley used four knives and a carving fork or skewer to kill 62-year-old Janis Dundas at her home in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, after she had taken him in ‘out of the goodness of her heart’, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Mrs Dundas was found by police laying face down in her bedroom with three knives ‘protruding’ from her body.

Killer: Jack Huxley, left, pleaded guilty to killing step-grandmother Janis Dundas, right, at her home in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire

Huxley, who carried on attacking Ms Dundas even after she was dead, pleaded guilty to her murder.

He held his head in his hands throughout today’s court hearing.

Stuart Lawson Rogers QC, prosecuting, told the court that prior to the murder, Huxley had used the victim’s computer to access the internet.

He said: ‘Searches were made for hardcore pornography which, in certain aspects, indicated an interest in material showing sexual activity between young men and mature women.’

Police also searched the defendant’s own laptop which revealed ‘many relevant searches’ had been conducted on earlier dates.

The barrister said there was no evidence to prove full intercourse had taken place between Huxley and his step-grandmother but added that the defendant’s boxer shorts were found under the body of the deceased and a t-shirt belonging to the defendant was also found in the victim’s bed.

The court heard that Huxley was a young man with a ‘troubled history’ involving alcohol and drug abuse, behavioural problems, depression, and self-harm issues.

His problems became so bad that he was no longer able to live with his mother and had been staying at a friend’s house.

Admission: Huxley initially denied murdering Mrs Dundas, but pleaded guilty to the crime at Liverpool Crown Court, pictured, today

But on the morning of April 4, Huxley left his friend’s house and began ‘wandering the streets’ until he was taken in by Mrs Dundas.

Police were called after neighbours heard noise coming from Mrs Dundas’s flat in the early hours of the following morning and Huxley was seen getting into her car which he went on to crash.

When officers arrived at the scene they found the abandoned car and a knife which had been dropped close to the front passenger door.

Mr Lawson Rogers said that the defendant arrived back on the scene shortly afterwards and was arrested. He was searched and found to be in possession of the victim’s mobile phone, her bank card and around £50 in cash.

Police then went to Mrs Dundas’ flat where they found her dead body on the floor next to her bed.

When Huxley was re-arrested on suspicion of murder he repeatedly declined to be interviewed and later told police he had seen a ‘masked stranger’ before he found the victim’s body in her bedroom.

Huxley then changed his story again and said he carried out the murder ‘in self-defence’, allegedly to resist attack from Mrs Dundas.

Huxley was due to stand trial for murder but changed his plea to guilty in court today.

In mitigation, Charles Miskin QC told the court that Huxley was sorry for what he had done and that he had suffered a ‘terrible’ childhood.

He said: ‘Nothing I can say can possibly erase the terrible fact that this young man has taken the life of another – not just any other but someone who treated him as a grandchild.

‘This was a sudden and galvanic explosion of violence, catalysed by some sexual component.’

Mr Miskin said his client was ‘very immature’ and had ‘development’ issues, that he has difficulty forming relationships, and is clinically depressed.

He added: ‘He is not as the rest of us.’

Recorder of Liverpool Judge Clement Goldstone QC adjourned sentencing until tomorrow at noon.