A school teacher described Martin Treacy as a young man with a 'polite nature', who was 'respectful, thoughtful and quiet'. A neighbour of Treacy's said the 18-year-old was 'well mannered', and would go out of his way to help others.
"I have never seen a bad side to Martin," she said. One person who saw Treacy's terrifying bad side was Uber driver Ali Asghar. Mr Asghar was beaten to death as he tried to make an honest living to support his family.
Also in Mr Asghar's Mercedes that night was Treacy's pal, 20-year-old Connor McPartland. The pair had known each other for nearly a decade, playing football in the park together as youngsters.
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McPartland, a former student at Hollingworth Academy in Rochdale, had joined his childhood friend for a boozy night out in Oldham town centre. He had planned to meet a girl he met while partying in a nightclub in Rochdale the weekend earlier, for a house party.
But instead of making it to the Halloween party, the pals ended up in a cell. Cooped up between those four walls for 18 hours as he quickly sobered up, McPartland considered how the events of Saturday October 30 last year could end with his 'life going down the drain'.
The pair had never appeared in a court before, but their 'veneer of civilized behaviour quickly dropped away' as they savagely attacked Mr Asghar. After an agonising two weeks in hospital, 38-year-old Mr Asghar lost his life.
He suffered catastrophic head injuries, caused by a horrifying attack after a petty row which blew out of all proportion. Instead of responding to a polite, reasonable request to stop eating a takeaway in his new Mercedes, Treacy launched a foul-mouthed tirade.
When the row turned physical, instead of walking away he ploughed head on into the fight. Mr Asghar paid with his life after standing up to him.
As the pair fled, they tried to concoct a story in a flawed bid to try and avoid justice. It was pure bad luck on Mr Asghar's part that led McPartland and Treacy, now lifers after being convicted of murder, into the back of his taxi.
McPartland, who worked as an engineer for a firm servicing tower blocks, claimed he would normally only go out drinking once every six months, if that. He was focused on his career and earning good money to provide stability for himself after a 'rough' upbringing.
"The outlook of life was a lot better," he said. "My future was looking a lot brighter." The weekend before the attack, McPartland had been out partying in Rochdale to 'blow off steam'.
Then on Halloween weekend, McPartland had been out with Treacy in Oldham town centre's Liquid nightclub. Even by his own admission, he was 'incredibly drunk'.
He downed 30 drinks over the course of the night, including beers, shots and spirits. Treacy, who in 2016 received a youth caution for having an article with a blade or point on 'school premises' had been 'boisterous' and 'messing about'. He bought a chicken burger and chips, perhaps to soak up some of the booze. But even in the early hours, their night was still young.
The pair planned to meet a girl McPartland had met the week earlier, and other friends outside Koko nightclub in Rochdale town centre, before heading on to the house party. The trip to Koko's in Rochdale was to provide the cruel turn of fate which led to their paths crossing with the unfortunate Mr Asghar.
He was dispatched to Oldham after McPartland ordered a taxi to take the pair to Coco's, a restaurant outside of Rochdale town centre, not Koko's as he had intended. Whether the pair would still have ended up in Mr Asghar's taxi that night if he had spelt the destination correctly, we will never know.
McPartland said the mix-up was resolved with Mr Asghar, and after a new fare was agreed via the app the journey continued. But it didn't resume for long.
After noticing Treacy tucking into his burger and chips in the back of his new Mercedes, Mr Asghar asked him to stop. 'Shut the f*** up and continue driving', was the reply he received.
Clearly angered by Treacy's rude response, Mr Asghar pulled over. "It just blew up, everything happened incredibly fast," McPartland would later recall. All three men got out near a Shell petrol station on Queensway in Rochdale, with the ugly scenes being captured on CCTV.
Treacy and Mr Asghar became embroiled in a heated confrontation. Mr Asghar did nothing to deserve the savage attack that followed. Treacy and McPartland punched and kicked him to the head, even as he fell to the ground. Neither backed down as the shouting and swearing woke up nearby residents.
In what was described as a 'ferocious, brutal and totally unforgiving attack', Mr Asghar suffered broken bones to his face, and a bloodied nose. Treacy pushed Mr Asghar with force, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head on the wheel of his own car creating a sickening thud.
He bled profusely, so much so that those trying to help him thought he'd been stabbed. He fought for his life for two weeks until the catastrophic head injuries proved fatal. The pair were quickly traced after fleeing the scene.
McPartland, who had ordered the taxi on the Uber account under his own name, told 'stupid' lies in interview and claimed ignorance. He panicked and feared his' life going down the drain', was his explanation for the untruths.
After confessing to manslaughter, Treacy chose not to follow his friend into the witness box at court. The 'quiet' young man remained so during the trial.
Wearing rimmed spectacles and a black suit, his demeanour was in marked contrast to the feral thug whose disgraceful actions were caught on camera alongside McPartland. The thick as thieves friends have come a long way from those games of football in the park ten years ago.
Convicted killers, their leisure time will be at Her Majesty's pleasure for the foreseeable future.
