A woman has been found guilty of murdering her "drinking partner" by beating him with a baseball bat and pushing him down a flight of stairs.
Cheryl O'Callaghan was today convicted of the murder of Adrian Swift by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court. The 57-year-old told a 999 call that he'd been "battered s***less" at their home on Bishopsgate Street in Wavertree before his death.
Fellow flatmates Steven Hardaker and Adam Oldland previously admitted perverting the course of justice, having claimed that Mr Swift had fallen down the stairs then drowned in the bath. O'Callaghan put her head in her hands and began crying as the unanimous verdict was delivered after eight hours and 27 minutes of deliberations.
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Mr Swift's family also appeared tearful in the public gallery. All three defendants will be sentenced on January 6 by Judge Denis Watson KC.
A trial previously heard that Mr Swift had "led a life afflicted by addictions to alcohol and drugs" and by the time of his death was "frail, unwell and vulnerable". Alex Leach KC, prosecuting, told jurors that in March last year he had been living at the address with O’Callaghan, her boyfriend Hardaker and Oldland.
On March 23 2021, the day before his death, he was taken to hospital after a 999 call in which he told the operator he had been "battered s***less". Mr Swift also stated to paramedics that 46-year-old O'Callaghan, of Stanton Crescent in Kirkby, had beaten him with a bat and pushed him down a flight of stairs.
The following morning, he discharged himself and returned to the property despite sustaining "serious facial and bodily injuries". Three hours later, Oldland - of Sunnyside, Sefton Park - alerted the emergency services to his death.
The 51-year-old, O'Callaghan and Hardaker "all gave an account of Mr Swift having suffered the injuries that took him to hospital as a result of a fall down some stairs". They also stated that he had been discovered submerged underwater in the bath.
But paramedics found that he was "not soaked through", the tub was dry and there was no water collected in his mouth or eye sockets. The court was played a series of 999 calls made by those involved.
The first was lodged by Oldland shortly before 3.45pm on March 23, although he then "appeared to change his mind" and said: "Do you know what, it doesn't matter. He's not sure if he wants to go or not, can I phone you back in a minute?"
The phone was passed to Mr Swift, who told the handler "I've been battered s***less". Oldland then terminated the call.
The North West Ambulance Service phoned back, with one minute and six seconds elapsing before Hardaker - also 51 and of Aigburth Drive in Sefton Park - answered. But he gave a false name of Dean Beveridge and stated: "No-one's been assaulted love, no-one's been assaulted."
Merseyside Police then rang after being alerted to the events by NWAS. Oldland picked up this time and said: "I've just come back and I've seen my mate.
"I wasn't here, but I think he's fallen down the stairs. I'm not sure.
"He's got a bruise on his face. He wants to go into the hospital."
The phone was then given to Mr Swift, who also told officers that he had fallen. But once alone in the back of an ambulance with paramedics, he said he had been hit with a bat and pushed down the stairs - adding "it was the female".
When medics attended, they were shown upstairs to a darkened room where Mr Swift was sat drinking with two other men - one of whom said he was called Tom. The emergency services workers were told that "the bulbs had gone" and had to examine him by torchlight, noting "significant injuries to the right side of his face".
O'Callaghan had told the paramedics that their "attendance was a waste of time" and that Mr Swift was "just an alchy who had fallen down the stairs". As he was leaving for hospital, she became "verbally aggressive towards him" and said: "I'm not going to be here when you get back.
"I'm going back to Kirkby. You only fell down the stairs, you're an alchy."
Before Mr Swift was taken away for treatment, two men knocked on the door of the ambulance and said: "He's fallen down the stairs. He's ok, he doesn't need to go to hospital."
The deceased subsequently told doctors he had "been assaulted by his housemate" and recalled waking on the floor with his injuries. When spoken to by police, he declined to make a formal complaint and said he did not intend to return to the house.
But, shortly before 8.30am on March 24, Mr Swift discharged himself and took a taxi back to Bishopsgate Street. He told the driver that he "had been beaten up by some drunk fella and that he’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time".
Upon arrival, Oldland came out of the property in order to pay the fare. He told the cabbie: "Well he shouldn't have racially abused her - he deserved it."
At around 11.30am, Oldland rang NWAS again and reported Mr Swift's death. He said during this nine-minute call: "The patient's dead.
"He's just gone upstairs and had a bath. I checked on him twice.
"I checked on him again and he was underwater. He's gone."
As instructions to perform CPR were being given, Oldland added: "Listen mate, he's gone. He's gone mate, he's drowned.
"I can't do it mate, I can't do it. He's f***ing dead.
"There's water coming out. There's water coming out."
O'Callaghan claimed that she only became aware that Mr Swift was injured when the ambulance arrived at the property. Describing herself as a "functioning alcoholic", she said on the witness box that she had spent the day listening to music on her headphones in the living room with the door closed.
The killer said in her evidence: "I'd noticed the ambulance, I'd noticed it pull up outside. I shouted up, 'why is there an ambulance outside the door?' - Steven said Adrian had fell down the stairs drunk."
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