An altercation over dog fouling in a park led to a vicious attack and the death of a ‘much loved’ man at the hands of a teenage gang.
John Hackett, 36 – a beloved son, brother, nephew and cousin – walked his dog in a Warwickshire park every day after work.
During one of those daily walks, he was fatally attacked by three teenagers in April last year, while the rest of the gang of 12 watched and filmed the violence for their ‘entertainment’.
The 16-year-old girl and two boys aged 15 and 16, who cannot be identified because of their ages, admitted manslaughter and were all given detention and training orders, which are custodial sentences, by Mr Justice Choudhury KC at Warwick Crown Court. at Leamington Spa on Thursday.
Detective Chief Inspector Collette O’Keefe, from Warwickshire Police’s Main Investigation Unit, told The independent the “haunting” images of Mr Hackett pleading, surrounded by screams and shouts, “will stay with me” as she warned about young people’s use of social media.
“It’s horrible,” she said. “Instead of filming they should have intervened and prevented what happened – maybe John would have been here to tell the story.”
Instead, Mr Hackett limped home from Snowhill Recreation Ground on the evening of April 25, with DCI O’Keefe describing him as the “walking wounded man”.
The next morning his body was discovered by his devastated mother at the top of the stairs in the house they shared on Camp Hill Road in Nuneaton. Mr Hackett was pronounced dead by emergency services at 8am and the three perpetrators were arrested later that day.
The police officer believes the senseless death was tragically unintentional and unplanned.
She said: “There was never any need to get to that level. It was anti-social behavior that eventually escalated over the course of a few weeks… The people involved did it for their own amusement. I don’t think they thought for one minute that John was going to die.”
She explained that the murder was shockingly sparked when Mr Hackett failed to clean up his dog’s mess. The teenagers began verbally abusing him and calling him names in relation to that incident, with his family describing how he was ‘bullied and tormented’ in the following weeks.
The police officer suspected Mr Hackett was an “easy target” as he reliably walked his dog every day after work so the offenders were aware of his routine. He also “looked different,” with long hair and clothing that was different from what the defendants would wear.
She said Hackett retaliated for the verbal abuse the day he was attacked, likely out of frustration. “That was the green light for that group to go in and attack him,” she said. Evidence from the teens’ cellphones suggested the group intended to verbally abuse him but not physically assault him.
After being alerted by Mr Hackett and a member of the public, police attended the scene and spoke to the three attackers who all claimed they acted in self-defence. Officers then attended Mr Hackett’s home where they found him in significant distress, having suffered injuries to his head and chest, and rushed him to hospital. However, two hours later he discharged himself and returned home, where he collapsed the next morning.
Mr Hackett was so beaten that a Home Office postmortem found he had died from abdominal injuries so severe they were described as the equivalent of a car crash.
In a victim impact statement read to the court on Thursday, Mr Hackett’s mother Christine Smith said of her son’s death: “I want to say it has ruined my life and put me through hell.”
Nine teenagers had watched, some of whom filmed the violence and later shared the footage on social media. The girl accused was among those who filmed the attack before participating. The harrowing video was widely circulated, with police warning the public not to share it.
DCI O’Keefe blamed the influence of social media at least partly for the incident, pointing to the subsequent widespread spread of violence on platforms, as well as the “densification” that social media can induce in people.
“The level of violence from these perpetrators was truly shocking and Mr Hackett must have been terrified the entire time,” said DCI O’Keefe. “Our thoughts are with his family, who have been left understandably devastated by his death.
“This incident should serve as a warning to people – violence has consequences, and sometimes those consequences can be tragic. These three young people may not have intended to kill Mr. Hackett, but that is ultimately what happened, and like Mr. Hackett’s family, they will have to live with the consequences of their actions for the rest of their lives.
“No outcome can ever change what happened, but I hope Mr Hackett’s family can now start to rebuild their lives after such a terrible ordeal.”
Paying tribute to Mr Hackett after the sentencing, his family said in a statement: “We are devastated by John’s passing. We have lost a much loved son, brother, nephew and cousin, taken from us due to a foolish act of violence. John was bullied and tormented for weeks, leading to his tragic death. Not a day goes by without us thinking about John and what he went through.
“We will never be able to forgive those involved.”
The 16-year-old girl, from the Nuneaton area, was jailed for 18 months, while the 15-year-old boy, from Willencote, Staffordshire, was sentenced to two years, and the 16-year-old boy, from Nuneaton, was jailed of two years.