Men linked to crime support group jailed for murder

Douglas Stephen and Christopher Burton, both aged 29, met up after their mothers became active in a group called Support After Murder and Manslaughter following the deaths of their own siblings.

Yesterday, however, the pair were told they would have to serve a minimum of 16 years in prison for the horrific killing of John Collins in a Brockholes street last July.

Bradford Crown Court heard at the start of their trial last month that Burton’s brother and Stephen’s sister had both been the victims of separate murders.

The men admitted Mr Collins’s manslaughter before their trial got under way, but yesterday the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on the murder charge, which they had denied.

Mr Collins had been on his way to collect his seven-year-old daughter from a friend’s house when he was subjected to an unprovoked and mindless attack involving repeated stamping and kicking.

Judge James Goss QC said it was an aggravating feature of the case that Mr Collins, “a wholly innocent man”, had suffered for several hours after the attack before falling into a coma.

The two men, who lived a few doors away from Mr Collins on Oakes Avenue, fled the scene and Judge Goss noted that in the lead up to the violence the pair had been consuming a large amount of drink and intimidating other people in the area.

‘’It was anti-social behaviour that turned nasty and then vicious when you saw John Collins,’’ said the judge.

“He had done you no wrong and, as you acknowledge, he did not deserve to die.’’

Judge Goss said the attack was “a shocking episode of mindless violence”.

As a result of the attack, the life of a decent man, who looked after his mother and was a father to a young daughter, was ended.

The effect on his partner had been severe, the judge said.

He added that it was an aggravating feature that those who witnessed the joint attack on Mr Collins in a public place were horrified and frightened by what they saw.

Although the judge acknowledge that the pair had not intended to kill Mr Collins he said they had intended to cause him really serious harm.

‘’I am required by law to pass a sentence of imprisonment for life and that’s the sentence I pass in both your cases,’’ the judge told them.

He said they would not be considered for release by the Parole Board until they had served a minimum of 16 years in prison.