{"id":109007,"date":"2021-01-21T09:02:43","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T09:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=109007"},"modified":"2021-01-21T09:02:43","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T09:02:43","slug":"thug-beat-fish-and-chip-punter-to-death-after-dragging-him-from-shop-for-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/thug-beat-fish-and-chip-punter-to-death-after-dragging-him-from-shop-for-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Thug beat fish and chip punter to death after dragging him from shop for \u00a320"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A vile thug who dragged a man from a fish and chip shop and beat him to dead for just \u00a320 has been handed a life sentence.<\/p>\n

Christopher Hardman, 45, was with friend Anthony Miller, when Christopher Walton, stopped them in the street and asked them for \u00a320.<\/p>\n

Mr Miller stopped as he felt like it was a robbery, but Mr Hardman carried on and shortly after he was dragged out of Seven Acres Fish and Chip shop on Winchester Way, Bolton.<\/p>\n

Walton then launched into a brutal attack, first punching him in the head, knocking him unconscious, Manchester Evening News reports.<\/p>\n

Minshull Street Crown Court heard Walton then rifled through the pockets of his victim before leaving him momentarily.<\/p>\n

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As the 45-year-old began to show signs of regaining consciousness, Walton approached him and began kicking and stamping on his head repeatedly in a "ferocious" beating.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Tim Storrie QC claimed Walton left Mr Hardman to die in an attack that was recorded on CCTV.<\/p>\n

Mr Storrie told the court: "It must have been clear during the course of that attack when he was conscious that he was seriously injured<\/p>\n

"The last phase of the attack was designed to cause maximum damage to Christopher Hardman.<\/p>\n

"It\u2019s the prosecution case that violence was used when others were nearby in order to provide a spectacle to the associates of Mr Hardman.<\/p>\n

"During the course of that incident, Mr Hardman must have suffered some significant degree of mental or physical injury over a prolonged period of time."<\/p>\n

In a post mortem report, a pathologist found Mr Hardman suffered a number of blunt force injuries including a jaw fracture, a fractured eye socket, cheekbone and nose.<\/p>\n

He also sustained massive injuries to the brain.<\/p>\n

Walton was arrested on July 14, the day after the attack, a "no comment" interview, telling officers "that could have been f***ing anyone" when he was shown the CCTV footage.<\/p>\n

The thug later admitted murder, and his defence lawyer Richard Littler QC described the attack as an example of "drunken thuggery."<\/p>\n

Mr Littler said: "This was very sadly the kind of incident that unhappily happens in our streets in the evenings.<\/p>\n

"It\u2019s an example of drunken thuggery, it\u2019s an example of the defendant looking for trouble and trying to start a situation.<\/p>\n

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