Drunk thug who killed pensioner jailed for life

Wayne Moffitt was captured on CCTV as he launched an initial attack on 71-year-old Geoffrey Bradburn in Shoe Market, Pontefract, knocking him to the ground with one punch and then repeatedly kicking him.

After leaving the scene he then returned minutes later, dragging Mr Bradburn, by then on his feet, into an alley where he subjected him to a further beating.

A jury at Leeds Crown Court took just over two hours yesterday to unanimously convict Moffitt, 39, of Minden Way, Pontefract, of the murder of Mr Bradburn on April 6.

Jailing him for life, the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC said in the first attack many of the nine kicks filmed had made contact with Mr Bradburn’s head. “The last one rendered him unconscious and you then walked away leaving him, for all you knew, dead.”

As the pensioner came round and began to walk away, a drunken Moffitt returned and pulled him into the alley “and there you subjected him to what must have been a savage, even though brief beating.”

That second attack began with his victim still upright “in all likelihood at that point fracturing his nose”. He was punched again as he went down and either punched or kicked on the ground.

Mr Bradburn a retired joiner, by then unconscious again, died after inhaling blood from his broken nose.

Ordering Moffitt to serve a minimum of 16 years in custody, minus the days he has spent on remand, the judge said he had read victim statements by Mr Bradburn’s two sons and two daughters. “They provide a very moving account of the devastating loss the family has suffered.”

He said it was an aggravating feature that at the time of the attack, Moffitt was subject to a community order imposed for an assault in 2009.

Tahir Khan, QC, defending, Moffitt said he had mistakenly believed his sister had previously been assaulted by Mr Bradburn.

After the case Mr Bradburn’s family said in a statement: “Our father was an elderly and very vulnerable man whose life has been cut short and taken because of a malicious barbaric act upon him. As a family we are devastated by our loss, we feel like we are in a living nightmare that never ends.”

“For his life to have ended this way is all too much for us to bear. The hardest part being that he would never condone violence and has always been fearful and scared of any violent acts. Walking past the place where it happened, as we have to often because we live in the town, is by far the worst effect of all.”

“Above all, he was a family man and loved nothing more than to be around his four children, Beverley, Angela, David and Stephen, eight grandchildren and six great grandchildren.”

Detective Chief Inspector Lisa Griffin said: “Geoffrey Bradburn was an elderly and vulnerable man murdered in an entirely senseless and unjustifiable act of violence by Moffitt.”