Saleem Butt: Man charged with murder of 61-year-old who was tied up and killed in his own home

Victim was well-known in community and described as ‘lovely and very gentle’

Saleem Butt, 61, was found with head and neck injuries at his home in Batley on 23 April (West Yorkshire Police/PA)

A man has been charged with the murder of a keen gardener who was tied up and and beaten to death in his own home.

Craig Stanton, 42, of Southgate, Huddersfield, is due to appear before Leeds magistrates on Monday charged with murder.

Mr Butt, who was described by friends as “lovely and very gentle”, had suffered severe head and neck injuries.

Detectives said they believed he was attacked between the evening of Wednesday, 22 April, and Thursday, April 23.

His body was found at his home in Hyrstlands Road on the night of 23 April. A cousin told reporters Mr Butt had been tied to a chair.

A 37-year-old woman and a 59-year-old man were released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

Mr Butt was described as very well-known in his local area, popular, community-spirited and always keen to do favours for neighbours.

During previous police appeals, detective chief inspector Tony Nicholson of West Yorkshire Police said Mr Butt was the victim of “a horrific sustained attack on a kind-hearted, well-liked and very well-known man”.

“It is very hard to comprehend why someone would attack Mr Butt, let alone inflict the level of violence he suffered.”