Drinking partner guilty of murder

Apr 16 2008 by Chloe Griffiths, Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool Crown Court (240)

AN ALCOHOLIC has been found guilty of murdering his drinking partner by battering him to death.

A jury took just an hour and a half to find Anthony Essam, 31, guilty of killing his friend, father-of-two John Paul Copple.

Essam showed no emotion as the verdict was read out at Liverpool Crown Court.

Mr Justice Silber told Essam he would serve life for the “callous murder” and he would decide the minimum sentence Essam would serve tomorrow.

Essam had admitted fighting with Mr Copple, 40, in the early hours of June 3, 2007, but claimed he had not meant to kill him.

The jury was told violence flared at Mr Copple’s flat above the Brass Balance pub in Birkenhead after Essam took a woman back there to have sex.

When Mr Copple interrupted them, Essam turned on him. He admitting punching and stamping on Mr Copple, but claimed he could remember little.

He told the court Mr Copple was alive and spoke following the drink-fuelled attack.

Hours later CCTV footage showed Essam using Mr Copple’s card to withdraw £50 from a cash machine.

Mr Copple’s body lay undiscovered for days, until Essam confessed to a worker at a substance abuse clinic. When police visited Mr Copple’s flat on June 8 last year they found his body, with evidence of a ferocious attack.