A murderer's flatmates have been locked up after falsely claiming that her victim had drowned in the bath.
Cheryl O'Callaghan was yesterday jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years after being unanimously found guilty of murdering Adrian Swift. The 57-year-old victim told a 999 call that he had been "battered s***less" at their home on Bishopsgate Street in Wavertree before his death.
He also reported that the killer had beaten him with a bat and pushed him down the stairs. O'Callaghan's boyfriend Steven Hardaker and a fourth housemate, Adam Oldland, were also imprisoned this afternoon after telling a "cowardly" string of lies to the emergency services in a desperate cover up - which also included stating that he had suffered his injuries during a fall.
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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 2021 he had been living at the address with O’Callaghan, her boyfriend Steven Hardaker and a fourth housemate, Adam Oldland.
On March 23 that year, 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."
Christopher Stables, defending Hardaker, told the court on Friday afternoon that his client had grown up in the Crosby area and had trained as a welder before moving to Leicester around 1990. He added: "It was about that time he began to take drugs - he was addicted to heroin, smoking heroin, for a very long period of time.
"In 1997, he returned to Liverpool. He knew his life was spiraling downhill, out of control - he began to inject heroin.
"His father tried to help him, got him some work and a flat in the Seaforth area. He managed, around 2012, to get himself off heroin.
"In effect, he traded one addiction for another. He got himself off hard drugs but began drinking."
But Hardaker has now been sober since October 2021, with Mr Stables saying: "Having had a life which was out of control, he’s turned his life around. He is now completely dry.
“He is well motivated to continue with this positive progress. The man your honour sees now in the dock is very different to the man present in the house at the time of these incidents in March 2021."
Meanwhile Rachel Oakdene, appearing for Oldland, said: “The loss of his good character is a source of shame and embarrassment to him. Mr Oldland had been resident at the property for approximately two months.
"Chaotic lifestyles were being lived by the occupants. Mr Oldland has moved on from that situation.”
Oldland described himself as a "complete idiot" and confessed that he had "messed up". Ms Oakdene also stated that the dad had "resiled from his short-lived account" under interview following his arrest.
Both men both admitted perverting the course of justice. They were jailed for 25 months each.
While Hardaker showed no reaction, Oldland sat hunched forwards in the dock as he was imprisoned. He then angrily grabbed his coat and put it on while ranting inaudibly before being led to the cells.
Sentencing, Judge Dennis Watson KC said: “As soon as you discovered Adrian Swift was dead, you both quickly began to tell lies. Firstly, and most importantly, you were both to maintain he had not been assaulted but had sustained his injuries in a fall.
“Secondly, that his body was found submerged in a bath - in other words, you thought he had drowned in the bath. What you said, I have no doubt, was intended to cover up for Cheryl O’Callaghan’s violence.
“Both of you knew what had gone on. To lie in any police investigation is serious, but when the police are investigating a murder it is particularly serious.
“Your lying, to cover up what I found to be a brutal and cowardly attack, was a cowardly and callous thing to do. Whether you witnessed the attack or she told you what she had done, both of you decided that your loyalty lay with her rather than the truth."
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