Father and son are jailed for life over ‘senseless’ killing
JON MACPHERSON
●● Daniel Taylor were in Lizzie Bodycomb’s face again. When you stepped back away from her Barry Tyrie intervened to try and protect her. All he did was to say you shouldn’t be treating a woman that way. And yet within moments he was defenceless on the ground when you were carrying out a joint attack on him. Daniel Taylor, you were punching him to the head like a cage fighter and John Taylor after you got to your feet you were kicking him repeatedly.
“It was a severe beating and the multiple bruising to the head, face, arms and body show that he received many blows and kicks. He suffered a ruptured blood vessel in the neck and died very quickly at the scene. He never stood a chance.”
Judge Brown said he accepted the attack was not premeditated and there was no intention to kill.
Daniel Taylor’s defence barrister John Jones said his client has a partner and two young children.
The court was told before the offence Daniel Taylor had a ‘secure, steady and responsible occupation at a carpet factory in Burnley’.
Mr Jones said: “The violence, when it did occur of this extreme nature, was spontaneous. The ‘going back to settle a score’ as it has been put, was an action led by the co-defendant.”
John Taylor’s defence barrister Francis Fitzgibbon said his client had worked for 14 years as a mental health support worker in care homes. He said it was ‘valuable and important work for the community’ and that his violent actions on August 25 last year were a ‘gross aberration’.
Mr Fitzgibbon said he disagreed that John Taylor’s return to the pub ‘settled a score’. He said the violence arose ‘spontaneously’ and that Barry Tyrie had not been involved in the first incident.
After the sentencing hearing, Mr Tyrie’s daughter Lisa Price said: “My dad was dearly loved by all his family and everyone that knew him. We will never get over what happened to him and struggle even more with knowing that two people who were supposed to be his friends were responsible for his death. As a family we are pleased with this conviction and feel that justice has been served. No sentence can ever bring my dad back but we can at least try and move forward and remember my dad for the kind and loving man he was.”
Detective Chief Inspector Gareth Willis said: “This was an incredibly shocking and senseless attack on a pensioner, which makes his death all the more tragic. Barry was a popular and well-respected member of the local community, and I want to thank everyone who came forward, providing significant assistance to the investigation team, and also the many witnesses who have attended court. Their support has helped us bring these two men to justice for Barry. Our thoughts remain with his family and friends at this extremely difficult time.”
LANCASHIRE Police will form an extra major investigation team in response to what the force’s chief constable described as the “massive hike in murders” last year.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, there were 26 homicides in the county in the 12 months to September 2019.
The number of murders during 2017/18 was 14.
Chief Constable Andy Rhodes said that the unit would be funded for the next year while the force established whether the numbers were a one- off spike or “the new normal”.
A meeting of the county’s police and crime panel heard that an extra 30 detectives were also being added to Lancashire’s investigation hubs, focusing on exploitation offences and safeguarding.
Half a dozen detectives and one sergeant are also bound for the child abuse protection team.
This is a neardoubling of the force’s capacity.
“Sexual offences and child protection investigations are now the bread and butter of the detective world.
“It’s no longer armed robbery, it’s all sexual offences - whether historic or current,” Ch Con Rhodes added.