MECHANIC JAILED AFTER MAN DIED IN CITIZEN’S ARREST
Mum reveals heartache over death of son who ‘wouldn’t harm a fly’
A MECHANIC who killed a man during a citizen’s arrest has been jailed for 38 months.
Benjamin Hunt chased Christopher Walters after he had damaged a car with a hammer. Hunt, aged 32, held Mr Walters by the neck, on the ground, for several minutes, using his body weight to pin him down even after he lost consciousness.
Police arrived and found Mr Walters ‘limp and lifeless’. The 25-year-old was pronounced dead that afternoon.
Hunt, of Heathcote Street, Longton, was sentenced at Stafford Crown Court yesterday after admitting manslaughter.
His work colleague Jonathan Hassall, who was also involved in the incident, took his own life just days before he was due to go on trial for manslaughter.
The court heard Hunt worked with Mr Hassall at the latter’s New Road Garage business, in Speedwell Street, Longton.
On May 15, 2019, the men were at work when Mr Walters ran up and used a sledgehammer to smash the windows of an Audi belonging to Mr Hassall’s son.
Hunt and Mr Hassall chased after Mr Walters and detained him in nearby Wood Street.
Prosecutor Robert Price said: “Mr Hunt then held Mr Walters around the neck. Mr Hassall held him to the lower body. Mr Walters, in the initial stage, was resisting and shouting unusual comments. Mr Hunt did not release at that point as he was fearful of what Mr Walters might do to him or those around him.
“There came a point where Mr Walters stopped resisting. Mr Hunt thought he was either asleep or unconscious.
“When Mr Walters stopped resisting, and when he was clearly unconscious, Mr Hunt should have released his hold of Mr Walters’ neck. He did not.
“His actions at that point, he acknowledged, became excessive and unlawful.”
Mr Price told the court that earlier in the day, Mr Walters left his home where he lived with his mother, Dawn Price, and met some friends. They told police he seemed “stressed and ill at ease” but it remains unclear why he went on to damage the car at New Road Garage. Hunt and Mr Walters did not know each other before the incident.
After Mr Walters was detained in Wood Street, the police were called, and officers arrived 19 minutes later. At that point, Hunt was still on top of the unconscious Mr Walters.
A postmortem examination found signs of oxygen deprivation in Mr Walters’ brain, and significant bruising to his neck. The cause of death was given as compression of the neck.
Hunt, a father-of-two, has no previous convictions, and many ‘glowing’ characters references were submitted on his behalf of family members, friends and former customers.
Barry White, mitigating, said Hunt had told him he would ‘never do it again’ and he had learnt a ‘very hard lesson’.
Mr White said: “He apprehended Mr Walters and he held him until the police arrived. Perhaps, I would submit, those are actions that could have been the actions of any of us had we been involved in a similar situation.
“But he accepts his plea, and he accepts he held on for too long. He acknowledges that once Mr Walters had lost consciousness, he should have let go.”
Mr White told the court the death of Mr Hassall had also had a huge impact on Hunt.
He said: “That, in addition to his own current feelings in relation to Mr Walters, is an additional factor here, an additional punishment – something he will have to live with for the rest of his life.”
Judge Kristina Montgomery told Hunt she accepted his claim his purpose had been to apprehend someone he believed to be an offender. But she said Mr Walters’ death was a consequence of Hunt holding on after it was no longer necessary for him to do so, at which point there was an ‘appreciable risk of causing harm’.
Judge Montgomery added: “In the early part of your pursuit and restraint of Christopher Walters, there were actions that were lawful. But it quickly became – when Mr Walters was on the ground – an act of detention. That may have been lawful, in so far as the force you used was proportionate. But there came a point where you were no longer acting in such a way that was consistent with necessity, let alone proportionality.”