Garry Newlove murder: Why was thug let loose to kill?

Jan 17 2008 By Mike Hornby and Karl Mansfield, Daily Post correspondents

A HEARTBROKEN widow said she was "absolutely disgusted" that a teenager who led a fatal gang attack on her husband had been released on bail just hours before.

Helen Newlove’s husband Garry, 47, was kicked to death by a gang of youths who had spent the day drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis.

Sales manager Mr Newlove, a father of three daughters, left his home in Warrington to confront the teenagers, who had been vandalising his wife’s car.

Three teenagers – Adam Swellings, 19, of Meredith Street, Crewe, Stephen Sorton, 17, of Honister Avenue, Warrington, and Jordan Cunliffe, 16, formerly of Rowland Close, Warrington – were found guilty of his murder at Chester Crown Court yesterday.

A 15-year-old and a 17-year-old were cleared of murder after the jury deliberated for a marathon 55 hours and 25 minutes.

After the verdict, it emerged Swellings had been released from custody for an assault just hours before the attack.

He was freed on condition he stayed away from Warrington, but Swellings never left the town. Instead, he met up with Sorton and Cunliffe and began their drink and drugs binge.

Mrs Newlove said: "We knew he had previous convictions but it was a shock to myself and to my family to hear he had been released that day. I’m absolutely disgusted. These magistrates, it’s unbelievable. They let him out to walk the streets. He’s not taken a blind bit of notice of the conditions of bail.

"He’s gone out, got drunk and taken drugs and my husband has been left dead."

During the five-week trial at Chester Crown Court, the prosecution said Mr Newlove was punched to the ground and kicked "as if he were a football".

He never regained con- sciousness and died at Warrington Hospital two days later.

It was the tragic climax of years of strife at the hands of youths who would gather at a subway yards from the Newloves’ semi-detached home in Station Road North, Fearnhead, drinking alcohol, and vandalising property and causing trouble.

On the night of August 10 last year, Mr Newlove, a part-time disc jockey, had spent the evening at home with his wife of 21 years and their daughters Zoe, 18, Danielle, 15, and Amy, now 13.

At around 10.30pm a group of teenagers walked past their Newlove home and the wing mirror of a mini-digger outside a neigh-bour’s house was smashed. Mrs Newlove’s Renault Scenic was also kicked and damaged.

Barefoot and wearing spec-tacles and shorts, Mr Newlove demanded to know who had caused the vandalism. As he moved toward the group, he was punched to the ground by Swellings and kicked repeat-edly and with such force lost consciousness.

Zoe grabbed hold of Cunliffe but Sorton helped him escape.

As family and neighbours tried to help stricken Mr Newlove, who was left with no stomach or spleen after beating stomach cancer, the gang walked away to a nearby chip shop where one of them bragged about what they had done.

Speaking after the verdict, Mrs Newlove, 44, attacked parents who fail to control their children and criticised the Government for failing to get to grips with youth disorder.

She said: "What these people need to understand is it could be their partners or parents that it happens to. We should all try and pull together to stop these youth gangs going on rampages.

"Attacking people verbally and physically under the influence of drink and drugs does not, in any way, justify their actions. You do the crime, you must face the consequence and do the time.

"It is too easy to say they are only children and there is nothing to do. What else can they do? By society accepting this type of attitude from the youths, gives out the wrong signals.

"Until this Government puts into place an effective deterrent, the youths of today know all too well they can play the system and get away with it."

She said of her husband: "Garry was a caring, loving, funny, and most of all a family man." She added: "The light has gone out of my life, the jigsaw has been lost forever.

"The tiniest of things that we used to do as a family now feels like it takes us forever."

Mrs Newlove, a legal secretary, described herself as "completely broken-hearted".

The light has gone out of our lives. A piece of our jigsaw is lost >>>