A man was tortured to death with scissors in the mistaken belief that he was a paedophile, a jury was told today.Ooops!
Looks like the old urban legend may be in danger of turning out to be a reality…
Or, maybe not:
Mr Street was convicted of raping a woman but there was no evidence he had abused children, Preston Crown Court was told.He was just a normal rapist then? Whew! That’s a relief…
Opening the case, John McDermott QC, prosecuting, said: 'Alan Street's death was extremely unpleasant. It involved an element of torture.So, why would this man bear a convicted rapist a grudge, hmm? It’s a puzzle…
'The motive for each of the defendants may have been different. Peter Leonard had real reason, the prosecution say, to hate Alan Street and to want revenge.
'Others in the dock may have been fuelled by drink and a mistaken belief that Alan Street was a paedophile. There is no evidence he had anything to do with the abusing of children but the label was there.'
Leonard was an enemy of Mr Street after the latter started seeing his ex-girlfriend Jane Proctor in November 2004.Ah. Nice…
They had a fight in a pub more than two years later and Leonard suffered a broken jaw.
Passing workmen found Mr Street's body by chance at the culvert in Accrington on January 19.An ‘attempt’?
The body had been tied and weighed down with bricks. There had been an attempt to bury Mr Street in a forest beforehand, Mr McDermott said.
How dim and inadequate do you have to be to fail at digging a hole and putting a body in it?
No work ethic, our underclass…
I doubt you have ever tried to dig a grave before, but I imagine it is very, very hard work. Even a three ft grave would mean shifting an awful lot of earth.
ReplyDeleteWhat if it was summer? The ground would be rock hard. Was there a rock layer a foot or so under the earth? Quite common on scrub land or hills.
To add, it was a forest. Ever tried to dig through tree roots?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the two previous commentators, digging a grave is very hard work , that's why they use mini-JCB's in graveyards nowadays.
ReplyDeleteAnd why most murder victims are found in 'shallow graves' once I get a couple of feet down , I really can't be arsed anymore, ooops
Digging - are you mad PC? We once placed reliance on the old tree shredder and acid routine but you can injure your back lifting the treated oil drums. The ergonomic and green solution is found in the pigpen - where nothing is wasted. Pork crackling anyone?
ReplyDeleteOh, but you don't need to dig a big hole to hide a body. You just need a few smaller holes.
ReplyDeleteAnd some power tools... ;)
"The ergonomic and green solution is found in the pigpen - where nothing is wasted."
ReplyDeleteIndeed. All those serial killers can't be wrong!
Just to get away from pigs for a moment, this story seems to be a bog standard fight to the death over a woman, with the added twist that the victor's accomplices claim spuriously they were doing it "for the children" in the hope of receiving a lighter sentence, is that right?
ReplyDeleteWhat's the legal term for "and an extra five years for taking the piss"?
Anyway, chicken wire, bricks and a reservoir are your way forward here.
ah yes the pig pen also known as The Brick Top Method
ReplyDelete"...this story seems to be a bog standard fight to the death over a woman, with the added twist that the victor's accomplices claim spuriously they were doing it "for the children" in the hope of receiving a lighter sentence, is that right?"
ReplyDeletePretty much. And a woman happy to partner up with a convicted rapist, too. What a prize!