Murder case at the centre of new TV documentary
CAMERAS FOLLOWED GMP’S MAJOR INCIDENT TEAM FOR NEW FOUR-PART SERIES
THE murder of homeless Daniel Smith, who was beaten to death by two men who then set his body on fire, is the focus of a new TV police documentary following the Greater Manchester’s murder squad detectives.
The Detectives: Murder on the Streets follows GMP’s Major Incident Team, providing a chilling insight into real-life investigations.
The first episode of a four-part series screened on Wednesday night on BBC 2 and covered the entire police inquiry into Daniel’s murder, from the initial discovery of his body to the convictions of those responsible. But who was Daniel and how did he die?
The 23-year-old, a rough sleeper who had drifted from Edinburgh to London and then back to Manchester, was part of a group of young homeless people who socialised together in a camp in Manchester city centre.
Their base was a disused workshop under the arches at Gore Street, near Salford Central railway station.
On the evening of January 19, 2016, Daniel woke from a drunken sleep in the arches and in a drowsy state, urinated on the bedding of another rough sleeper.
His actions enraged Luke Benson, a friend of Daniel’s who was nursing a grudge against him after they had brawled earlier that day.
Benson punched him unconscious then dragged him out into the open but another friend, Adam Acton, dragged him back under the arches. Both were high on the drug Spice at the time. Hours of violence followed. Daniel was punched, kicked and stamped on by the pair, who also used a bat, hammer and a broomstick to attack him.
Fighting for his life, Daniel was then left in a tent.
When Benson and Acton returned, he was dead. They set the tent on fire and fled.
The programme makers said the case sent police ‘into the world of Manchester’s exploding young homelessness crisis.’
Benson and Acton denied murder in a Manchester Crown Court trial, but were both found guilty by majority verdict after 18 hours of deliberation by a jury. In August 2016, both were jailed for life for Daniel’s murder.
Benson, of no fixed address but who has links to Sale, was jailed for a minimum of 21 years and Acton, of no fixed address but from the Denton area, for a minimum of 22 years.
Detective Superintendent Jon Chadwick, from GMP’s Major Incident Team, said: “Murder is the most heinous of crimes.
“I hope the programme shows the dedication and effort that the teams put into, not just bringing the perpetrators to justice but supporting those that they leave behind.”