A 'CALLOUS' murderer who tortured and savagely stabbed his victim to death during a brutal attack looked on emotionless as he was caged for life.

Cold and calculated Michael Danaher barely flinched as he was told he will be locked up for at least 34 years for murdering Oxford book seller Adrian Greenwood.

The 'devoted' father-of-two ruthlessly plunged a blade into his victim 16 times, stepping over the 42-year-old's body as he bled to death in his East Oxford home.

He declared to jurors he was in fact the victim of the frenzied attack, claiming Mr Greenwood rushed at him with the blade and left him with no choice but to defend himself.

But the 'dangerous' killer seemed at ease when jurors rumbled his 'tissue of lies', unanimously convicting him today after just two hours and two minutes of deliberation.

Judge Ian Pringle QC branded the murderer 'obsessed' with targetting celebrities and wealthy people to solve his money woes, including Christ Church graduate Mr Greenwood.

Sentencing at Oxford Crown Court, he continued: "It is clear that during the course of 2015, you began to draw up plans to rob or burgle people, or perhaps even to kidnap people and hold them to ransom, so as to generate funds for yourself.

"We will never know precisely what went on behind the door but what we do know is this - that Mr Greenwood received no less than 16 savage stab wounds in this brutal act of yours.

"In addition, he had his right arm splintered, I have no doubt, by very considerable force applied by you, probably a stamp. You left him bleeding to death on the floor of his own hallway. You even took a photograph of yourself once you left the property.

"You inflicted upon Mr Greenwood more torture by way of the knife-tip stab wounds that he had on him. You had planned other targets and indeed had already tried to carry out one operation only two weeks before this."

The violent murder was sparked by unemployed Danaher's interest in his victim's rare copy of The Wind in the Willows, worth about £50,000.

He travelled to the city five times before the murder, plotting ways to carry out his calculating plans and pinch the first edition copy from Mr Greenwood's Iffley Road home.

Danaher set out to rob his 'defenceless' victim on April 6 but went on to murder Mr Greenwood using a blade discovered at his home days later.

Senior investigating officer Det Supt Kevin Brown said the victim's family had been living a nightmare since the tragedy but added he was pleased jurors had seen through the killer's lies, self pity and arrogance.

He continued: "Danaher is clearly an extremely calculated, ruthless, and violent man. He has shown no remorse for this brutal murder. Instead he tried to claim he was acting in self defence and that Adrian attacked him. This was never the case.

"Danaher sustained only some minor scratches one of which his arrogance led to him taking a selfie outside of Adrian’s address, after he had killed him and stolen property.

"Then, in the aftermath of the murder, Danaher displayed cold, calculated and callous behaviour."

In a statement released after Danaher was jailed, Mr Greenwood's family praised Thames Valley Police and the Crown Prosecution Service for bringing the murderer to justice.

It read: "We would also like to thank the jury for their concentration and time during this long trial. We are very pleased that justice has been achieved for Adrian, with this conviction."

Danaher, of Hadrians Court, Peterborough, must pay a victim surcharge and was also handed a seven-year jail term for possession of a stun gun, which will run concurrently to his sentence of life imprisonment.