Guns taken in fatal raid involving city teen still not found

TWO guns taken in a home raid where an elderly man was strangled to death have still not been recovered, a court has heard.

Donald Ralph, 83, was beaten and strangled after two people, one a teenager from Leicester, broke into his Essex home, in Aldham in December last year.

Leighton Snook, 28, a distant relative of the pensioner, was found guilty of murdering him at an earlier trial at Ipswich Crown Court. A 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named due to his age, was found guilty of manslaughter.

Simon Spence QC, prosecuting, said Snook was in debt to a drug dealer and was “desperate for money”.

He told the court that Snook and a 17-year-old went to Mr Ralph’s home “in order either to obtain money from him or to take items they could sell in order to raise money”. Mr Ralph was “beaten until he bled” on December 28, Mr Spence said.

He added that the pair then travelled to Hastings, in East Sussex, in the pensioner’s Volvo.

Both defendants were convicted of the burglary of the guns, with a count of theft of the car ordered to lie on file. At a sentencing hearing on Friday, Mr Spence said the guns had still not been recovered.

Isabella Forshall QC, for Snook, described the events as a “horribly gone wrong burglary where an old man bravely put up a fight”.

She said Snook had used cocaine from a “young age”.

Christopher Paxton QC, for the teenager, said the boy had been described as “easily led” in a report and said he played a “minor role” in the incident.

A handwritten letter by the teenager was read out by the judge. He wrote: “I’m sorry for my involvement in the crime that ended up with someone’s death.

“I didn’t know that was gonna happen”.

He added it was “never my intention for someone to be either really seriously injured or killed”.

The sentencing hearing is due to continue at Ipswich Crown Court today.