Man, 22, admits murder of Sheffield organist

Jonathan Bowling, 22, pleaded guilty yesterday to the murder of Alan Greaves, 68, in the High Green area of Sheffield last December.

Mr Greaves, who was beaten in the street as he made his way from his home nearby, died in hospital three days after the attack on December 24.

Bowling, from Burngreave, Sheffield, who was accused of murder alongside Ashley Foster, 21, appeared at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday morning flanked by four dock officers.

He wore a two-piece grey Adidas tracksuit and had short dark hair with a prominent tattoo on his neck as he sat in the dock, speaking only to confirm his name and enter a plea.

Bowling looked around the court during the 20-minute hearing and when he stood he had his hands in his pockets.

His co-accused Foster, of High Green, has pleaded not guilty to the same charge and will now stand trial.

Foster, who wore a short-sleeved grey T-shirt and had short, dark brown hair, appeared in court via a videolink.

Addressing Bowling, Judge Roger Keen QC said: “You know what the inevitable sentence is going to be but that will be passed at the end of the trial of your co-accused.

“You will stay in custody until then. Foster will also stay in custody until the trial date.”

The trial where Foster will stand accused of murder starts on June 24 at Sheffield Crown Court in front of Mr Justice Teare. Bowling will be sentenced at the end of the trial.

Mr Greaves’s widow, Maureen, attended yesterday’s hearing and watched the proceedings from the public gallery.

The funeral of the father-of-four was at a packed St Saviour’s Church near his home in High Green in February.

During the eulogy, Mrs Greaves said she was determined “to turn aside from hatred, vengeance, unforgiveness and retaliation” towards her husband’s killer.

Describing her husband of 40 years as “a truly beautiful man”, she said she had lost her soulmate.

Police officers leading the murder investigation said earlier this year that Mr Greaves was “a loving, caring, husband, father and grandfather who was well-loved and respected by all who knew him”.

Fifty South Yorkshire Police officers were involved in the hunt for his killers, with a £10,000 reward put up by Crimestoppers for information leading to an arrest and conviction.