A jealous boyfriend killed his love rival in cold blood with a baseball bat after messaging his girlfriend "on my way babe, 10 mins", a court heard.
Daniel Griffiths, 43, repeatedly beat Andrew Guy, 54, at his home after he sent the casual text in October last year, causing an "agonising and slow death".
Andrew had gone to the property, near Crewe, Cheshire, to drop off some drugs at around 7 pm when Griffiths violently assaulted him. Police believe Griffiths wrongly thought Andrew was interested in his partner.
Andrew's body was discovered two days later by his mother after he complained about experiencing "10 out of 10" pain in his stomach.
A post-mortem later confirmed that he died due to a large amount of internal bleeding caused by blunt force trauma.
Following a 15-day trial at Chester Crown Court, a jury found Griffiths guilty of manslaughter. He was sentenced at Chester Crown Court to eight years and six months in prison on Wednesday, May 11.
After the verdict, Andrew's family paid tribute to him, saying: "Andrew did not deserve to die the way he did, and the trauma of it has left its mark on all of us.
"While it doesn't ease the pain we've been caused by Andrew's senseless death, we are grateful for the guilty verdict today."
The court heard that Andrew had travelled to his mother's home in Cheshire by train from Bournemouth on October 15, where he'd been living for four months.
And following a call that afternoon, he drove to the nearby towns of Market Drayton and Whitchurch to meet with friends.
Later, he received a text message and a phone call from Griffith's partner.
But after Andrew arrived at the pair's house at around 7 pm to bring them drugs, a neighbour heard raised voices between Andrew and the couple.
The court heard Griffiths dragged Andrew in and out of the property during the assault and used a baseball bat to hit him in the stomach and leg.
The blows to his leg left him with dented marks, which he covered with a T-shirt.
Later, Andrew drove back to Buerton, Cheshire, and changed clothes before picking up a takeaway in Market Drayton that he'd promised to bring home to his mother.
And while waiting for the food he sent text messages to Griffiths and his partner's phone saying he was in "10 out of 10" pain in his stomach and bleeding as a result of the injuries inflicted upon him.
He later told his mum that Griffiths had "set about me" with a baseball bat and confided in her that the pain in his stomach was getting worse.
And on Sunday October 17, at around 10.15 am, Andrew was found in the bathroom by his mother.
An ambulance attended the property, but despite best efforts by paramedics and his mother, Andrew could not be revived.
Detectives from Cheshire Constabulary's major investigation team then pieced together Andrew's movements in the run-up to and after the attack, using telecoms data and CCTV footage.
On October 29 last year, Griffiths was arrested at his address and subsequently charged - with the baseball bat recovered from his property.
Senior investigating officer detective inspector Dave Hutcheon said: "Andrew died an agonising and slow death due to extensive internal bleeding after being struck numerous times from Griffiths hitting him with what we believe was a baseball bat.
"While we may never know exactly why Andrew was attacked by Griffiths we believe the reason was closer to home than over bringing drugs to the address and because he wrongly thought Andrew was romantically interested in his girlfriend.
"Since Andrew died it has been a difficult time for his mother and his family and friends and our thoughts have been with them since he passed away.
"We have worked incredibly hard to ensure that we were able to find his killer and to be able to give him and his family the justice they deserve.
"I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported the investigation that has led us to where we are today including key witnesses and members of the public who came forward with information as well as the investigation team and the Crown Prosecution Service."
Andrew's family asked for privacy going forward. They said: "Andrew was a dear son, brother, uncle and father and we will miss him terribly.
"We would like to ask that we now be allowed to grieve in private and come to terms with our future without him."
