Unmasked – the cocky teen jailed for vicious attack
‘COWARD’, 19, BEAT MAN TO DEATH THEN POSTED TAUNTS ON FACEBOOK
ian.johnson01@reachplc.com A TEENAGER who taunted police on Snapchat after they named him among Tyneside’s ‘most wanted’ is today unmasked as a killer.
While at large, Ben Cruse likened himself to Osama bin Laden on Facebook and boasted: “I’m never getting found”.
Now, for the first time, The Chronicle can expose the baby-faced brute as a vicious killer who helped beat defenceless Shane Tunney to death.
His face can be made public after a judge lifted a court order which protected him.
The 19-year-old has now been recalled to prison to potentially serve the rest of his manslaughter sentence.
Newcastle Crown Court heard Cruse was jailed for four years in 2016 for the killing of 24-year-old Mr Tunney in Stockton, Teesside. “Coward” Cruse was part of a gang which showered Mr Tunney with food as he withdrew cash on Norton High Street. When he and a pal spoke up for themselves, the thugs decided to “teach them a lesson”.
In a seven-on-two attack they swarmed on the defenceless duo, kicking, stamping and punching Mr Tunney before stealing his phone. Mr Tunney fell into a coma and died more than a month later, while his friend Anthony Kirk survived. The attackers were jailed for a total of 50 years and Cruse spent just over a year inside before being released on licence and moving to Newcastle – with the public oblivious to his deadly past. However, just two months after his release, he broke the law again.
He and a friend terrorised a Tesco security guard who was branded a “p***y” after the staff member glared at them – to which they replied ‘what are you looking at’?
Cruse then allegedly reached into his pocket for what the guard claimed looked like a knife.
At court, a judge ordered he be cuffed in the dock due to his history of trying to flee courtrooms.
He had been scheduled to stand trial but admitted using threatening words and behaviour at the Stoddart Street store in Newcastle last November. A charge of knife possession was dropped after prosecutors offered no evidence. In mitigation, barrister Samuel Faulks claimed Cruse, who had no fixed address at the time, hadn’t been the chief antagonist inside Tesco.
Jailing Cruse for 18 weeks, Judge Penny Moreland said it beggared belief anyone on licence would act like he did. And she added: “Shop staff should not have to put up with that sort of behaviour.”
The incident landed Cruse on Northumbria Police’s Christmas ‘most wanted’ list and the shameless killer shared ChronicleLive’s story on Facebook while at large.
He also posted a Snapchat of himself posing near police at Grey’s Monument during the Christmas market, captioned: ‘Yous [sic] can’t catch me’.
And he branded himself ‘ Ben Laden’, seemingly a reference to Al-Qaeda terror chief bin Laden, who evaded capture for years following 9/11.
In interview, he told police the guard was “mistaken” in what Cruse had said to him – only to later admit in court.
Now, he has been sent to County Durham’s HMP Deerbolt to serve the remainder of his four-year sentence – although he faces a parole board next month for Mr Tunney’s killing.
A court order, imposed during his manslaughter trial, had protected Cruse’s identity as he was just 17 years old. Following an appeal by The Chronicle after Cruse’s latest conviction, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC lifted the reporting restrictions on Tuesday.