Murderer threatens judge: I will escape and kill you

Jul 8 2008 by Chloe Griffiths, Liverpool Daily Post

A MURDERER threatened to kill a High Court judge after being found guilty of beating his sister’s boyfriend to death.

Daniel Breaks shouted the threat to Mr Justice Openshaw after being unanimously convicted of brutally battering Simon Sutton before ordering his sister’s children to stamp on his body.

Breaks, who has nearly 300 convictions, first laughed as he asked the judge for a second opinion.

But after Mr Justice Openshaw replied “No” he became enraged, shouting: “You suppressed the truth in this trial.”

Pointing his finger and surging forward in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court, the convicted armed robber threatened: “I will escape and I will kill you.”

As he was dragged down by three security guards, Mr Justice Openshaw calmly responded: “He’s unlikely to have the chance to carry it out, members of the jury.”

Breaks, who was also found guilty of kidnapping County Durham couple Charles and Joy Heaps, after going on the run, will be sentenced today.

Following the verdict, Mr Sutton’s brother, Mark, 38, said: “The jury have seen through his lies and now everybody can see him for the monster he really is.”

He added: “ There’s been a lot of sleepless nights. It’s only now we can mourn the death of Simon.”

Mr Sutton, of Birkenhead, added the family had been under extra stress because his other brother, Jason, had been charged alongside Breaks of blackmailing HSBC Bank in Newcastle of £300,000.

Both men were cleared of the plot by the jury after four hours of deliberation.

Tim Holroyde, QC, prosecuting, had told the jury Breaks targeted his sister Gwyneth’s eight-stone partner Mr Sutton over allegations he had “grassed” to police about the blackmail conspiracy.

On April 10, two days after alcoholic Mr Sutton was questioned by police, Breaks turned on him.

The 48-year-old, of Hallville Road, Allerton, armed himself with a weighted pool cue and began to beat him.

After ordering Mr Sutton and Gwyneth, of Argyle Street, Birkenhead, to beg for mercy, he continued his vicious attack until Mr Sutton, 40, fell unconscious.

He then ordered Gwyneth’s two teenage sons to slap their mother and stamp on Mr Sutton’s body.

In the following six days, Breaks showed off the body to his own mother, his sister Susan and a friend, before ordering Gwyneth and her two sons to wrap the body in bin bags and dump it in an alley.

He then fled to County Durham where he kidnapped his friends, Mr and Mrs Heaps, at knifepoint, and drove to London.