Dad-of-six beat up nephew
ADAD-OF-SIX beat up his own nephew and then drove him at ‘unacceptable’ speed after his pal mocked him using an emoji.
Mark Wilcock teamed up with long-term pal Kirk Lee Hulme to take his relative in their car, having attacked him at home.
The pair demanded Wilcock’s nephew tell them where his friend lived because that friend had used an emoji to reply to a photo posted by Wilcock on Facebook which ‘suggested he was laughing at him’, court heard on Monday (November 6).
During the ordeal, Wilcock drove at 83mph in a 30 zone, sped through red lights, and Hulme ‘tried to bite off his cheek and gouge his eye’. The men, both 37, have been jailed.
The events started on April 9, 2023, when Wilcock posted a photo of himself on Facebook. A friend of his nephew replied using an emoji which ‘suggested he was laughing at him’, prosecutor David James told Manchester Crown Court. Wilcock then ‘reacted by threatening’ the friend.
Three days later, on April 12, the nephew and friend in question were playing video games online, and speaking to one another via Xbox headsets, the prosecution continued. Wilcock then called his nephew and threatened to ‘smash his head in’, and then said he would ‘go to one his friends’ houses to harm them’, Mr James added.
Moments later, Wilcock and Hulme burst into the nephew’s home, with ‘the door to his bedroom kicked off by its hinges’.
“The pair demanded the nephew give the address of the friend who posted the emoji.
“They then set on him, punching him,” prosecutors told courtroom nine. “Hulme then tried to bite his cheek and gouge his eye.”
The three then got into a silver Vauxhall Corsa, and the nephew gave a rough area of where his mate lived - Spotland, in Rochdale. On their way to the neighbourhood, the car stopped at a garage in the early hours of the morning to buy alcohol.
Unbeknownst to Hulme and Wilcock, the person they were searching for had heard the attack take place via the headset, so called 999 at 2.31am. At the time, he was at home with his mother, and the pair fled to another place to stay for safety.
Police were then on alert to look out for the car, and when it reached Sandy Lane, officers observed it slowly going up and down the road. Cops then stopped the car, and when they asked Wilcock, who was driving, to switch the engine off, he reversed and made off.
That triggered a pursuit, with prosecutors alleging the car travelled at 83mph on Queensway in Rochdale, which is a 30mph zone. They were only stopped after Wilcock turned into a dead-end road.
There, officers chased the duo on foot. Hulme was apprehended at the time, 3.20am, whereas Wilcock was arrested at home at 5.50am, telling police he was ‘in bed all night’.
The nephew started walking home from the dead end road, but was stopped by police as he had no shoes on, and was taken to hospital. He only suffered minor injuries.
Defending Hulme was Ellen Shaw, who told Judge Patrick Field KC that her client had committed many of the 104 offences and 43 convictions on his record because of addiction issues. She said: “He has been marred by addiction and made some poor choices but ultimately in custody, he has been getting on well and behaving himself. He has been involved with courses on offer to him and he has a positive report.”
Wilcock was defended by Stuart Duke, who said the dad-of-six ‘did not have a history of violence’.
He added: “He is a family man, with a partner and six children at home. He has spent the last seven months in Forest Bank Prison.
“He is old enough to know better, frankly. There’s a hint of bullying about this which does not do them any credit.”
Judge Field decided both offences could only be served with immediate prison time. He said: “You are both 37 years old and pleaded guilty on the trial date for assaulting [the nephew], occasioning actual bodily harm.
“What you both did was to invade [his] home in the early hours of April 12 last. You kicked down his bedroom door and launched an unprovoked attack on him. You subjected him to a beating all because his friend had apparently made fun of you on social media.
“The response to this provocation itself was not only wholly unacceptable, it was wholly disproportionate.
“Your violent response to it amounted to a serious criminal offence that crosses the custody threshold. I note that it all seems to be part of a planned attempt to get [the nephew] to lead you to his friend and no doubt subject him to a beating too.
“For the driving offences these were part of the same criminal behaviour. As you drove around Rochdale, you were spotted by police and failed to respond to their instructions and you drove off at unacceptably high speeds. It’s apparent you put your passengers and police officers’ at risk and you deliberately flouted the rules of the road.”
Kirk Hulme was given 21 months imprisonment for his offence of causing actual bodily harm.
Mark Wilcock, of Stockport Road in Levenshulme, was given 16 months for the ABH charge, and six months for driving dangerously - with both terms to be served concurrently - and has been banned from driving for 13 months.
Both men are now subject to a restraining order