Craig Dodd / Ryan Palin
Two teenagers in England who repeatedly bullied a homeless man - pouring food and drinks on him, daubing his face with ink and make-up, burning his hair and urinating on him. After their final, fatal beating of the man, they threw him into a river to die.
A pair of teenagers who repeatedly bullied and attacked a vulnerable man, before beating and tossing him into a river, have been jailed for life.
Craig Dodd, 17, and Ryan Palin, 15, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of David Atherton, 40, who died last May.
Warrington Crown Court heard that Mr Atherton, who had learning difficulties and suffered alcoholism, was subjected to regular abuse by the pair. The court heard Dodd and Palin described as "feral, wild and untamed". Reporting restrictions, which would usually prevent the boys' names being published, were lifted by the judge.
Dodd and Palin were part of a teenage gang who preyed on vulnerable adults in Warrington, the court heard.
Mr Atherton, originally from Wigan, Greater Manchester, was forced into letting the gang use his flat to drink and smoke cannabis. The teenagers subjected him to regular abuse and humiliation, which they called "terroring". This included pouring drinks and food on to him, daubing his face with ink and make-up, burning his hair, urinating on him and vandalising his flat. It also included regular beatings.
Patrick Harrington QC, prosecuting, said: "The two defendants, often with others, were involved in a campaign of terror and violence directed at David Atherton. "Ultimately - and almost inevitably - the result was that the two defendants killed Mr Atherton by beating him savagely and throwing him into the River Mersey."
Mr Harrington described the lives of the two teenagers as "appalling". He added: "If one were to search for a single adjective to describe their behaviour, it would be feral. They were wild and untamed."
The boys had been drinking and smoking cannabis when they visited Mr Atherton's flat in Howley, Warrington, on 8 May last year. A neighbour heard them beating Mr Atherton, and invited him in, but he was led away by Dodd and Palin.
They later boasted to friends that they "winged him into the water", meaning they each held a leg and an arm then tossed him in.
Mr Justice Hodge sentenced Dodd and Palin to detention for life. He told them: "Your conduct was reprehensible. You both treated Mr Atherton as a punch bag. "What you did was not opportunistic. It was pre-meditated. "It was a savage attack - cruel, brutal and vicious and on a very vulnerable man."
2 comments:
the man wasn't homeless, he had to be re-housed because of these to, who found im again.
the man did not have lerning difficulties he was a pedo and deserved everything that happend to him
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