A QUANTITY surveyor is facing life behind bars after being found guilty of murdering a man who went to the aid of two girls.
Jurors took just over four hours to convict James Thompson, 25, of kicking Anthony Johnson, 47, to death in Southport town centre in the early hours of December 30.
The father-of-two had gone to help two teenage girls whom Thompson, of Dobbs Drive, Formby, was shouting abuse at during a night out.
The jury cleared Thompson’s close friend and co-accused Steven Keegan, 26, also of Dobbs Drive, of both murder and manslaughter.
Paul O’Brien, 27, of Mark Road, Hightown, was also acquitted of assaulting Mr Johnson’s friend, Nicholas Halsall.
The Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Henry Globe, QC, adjourned sentencing until today.
