Thug murdered man in brutal pub attack
‘LIFE SENTENCE IS DESERVED FOR HORRIFYINGLY VIOLENT ATTACK’ SAY POLICE
A MAN who beat another man to death in a pub toilet has been locked up.
Derek Bentham has been jailed for life, and must serve a minimum of 13 years before being considered for parole following the brutal attack in Hindley, Wigan.
The 46-year-old, of Smithwood Avenue, Hindley, was found guilty of murder at an earlier hearing.
The court heard how his victim, Lee Christy, was drinking with a close friend at the Bears Paw pub on Market Street, when he went into the toilet.
Bentham, who was also in the pub with his girlfriend, followed him in a short time later.
He then carried out a brutal premeditated attack on the 45-yearold, on Saturday, September 15.
He knocked him to the floor, climbed on top of him and then he repeatedly punched him in the face.
Bentham then began head-butting his victim. After that, he walked away but turned back and kicked his helpless victim one last time. The attacker then walked out of the toilets and left the pub with his girlfriend. Lee was carried out of the toilets, and managed to make it home to his flat across the road before an ambulance took him to hospital. He died three days later. A Home Office post mortem confirmed that he died from an abdominal haemorrhage due to a rupture of the spleen as a result of blunt force trauma. He also suffered a broken neck during the assault.
Speaking after the sentencing, Det Insp Andy Butterworth, of GMP’s Major Incident Team, said: “The only appropriate word to describe Derek Bentham’s actions the night he killed Lee Christy is brutal.
“He watched him go to the toilet before following behind with the intention of causing nothing less than serious harm to Lee.
“What followed would be a horrifically violent premeditated attack that left Mr Christy bleeding and dying on a pub toilet floor.
“A life sentence is exactly what Bentham deserves and, although it won’t bring him back, I hope Lee’s loved ones will feel a sense that justice has been served.”