Four people have been found guilty of murdering a dad who was stabbed to death near his home as he tried to flee a mob attack.
Stephen Pugh, 49, Sean Neil, 42,Tina Walton, 43 and Stephanie Steel, 38, were convicted of murder after the jury heard they acted as an 'out of control mob with a lust for retribution' during the group attack on Mark Gibson, 52.
A fifth defendant, Aaron Chadwick, 33, was found guilty of manslaughter after the jury concluded he was involved in the attack but did not intend serious harm to Mr Gibson, LancsLive reports.
READ MORE: Girl, 16, dies after being hit by car in horror smash as man arrested
Emergency services were called to Carshalton Road in Blackpool in the early hours of July 11 where Mr Gibson lay seriously injured on the pavement. During the trial, Pugh, who had always denied killing Mr Gibson, confessed he had stabbed the dad with a two pronged knife.
Each defendant claimed they were acting in self defence after an attack on Tina Walton in which she suffered a head injury. But the jury at Preston Crown Court accepted the prosecution's case that, although Mr Gibson may have started the trouble when he knocked on the door of a house in Boothroyden, he did not pose a risk to anyone when he was fatally stabbed.
During the trial, footage of a fight on the corner of Boothroyden and Carshalton Road was played to the jury. They were also shown CCTV of a melee in the front garden of a house on Carshalton Road, in which Mr Gibson was set upon by the mob as he tried to run to safety.
The jurors heard moments earlier Mr Gibson was banging on the windows and doors, shouting: "You're a f***ing grass. You're not going to get away with this. I'm from Manchester. Youse two are grassbags."
Witnesses heard the victim shouting for help as the five defendants ran away laughing and joking. One was heard shouting 'f*** him, let him bleed out' as Mr Gibson lay on the pavement with a deep knife wound to his shoulder.
Home office pathologist, Dr Alison Armour said the wound was so deep it cut through Mr Gibson's bone and penetrated his chest cavity, causing an injury so serious Mr Gibson would collapse within a minute of it being inflicted. When police went to the house in Boothroyden, where Pugh, Walton, Neil and Steel returned after the stabbing, they found the knife used in the attack in a washing up bowl.
Mr Gibson was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital but later died.
Neil and Walton, both of Boothroyden, Pugh, of Chapel Street, Steel, of Gorton Rad, and Chadwick, of Warley Road, all in Blackpool, will be sentenced on March 1.
READ NEXT:
