Pregnant teenager watched torture of boyfriend who was then murdered



Sadistic: Pregnant Chelsea Platt lured boyfriend Martin Hyde into the clutches of two thugs

A former football star was tortured and murdered after his pregnant girlfriend set him up to be attacked by two thugs so she could watch the savage beating for pleasure.

Chelsea Platt, 18, despised Martin Hyde, 22, and enjoyed seeing him bullied and humiliated.

When Mr Hyde got caught up in a petty row over £15, sadistic Platt lured her lover into the clutches of two thugs who ambushed him as he followed her down the street.

Platt later watched unfazed as Mr Hyde was viciously assaulted at her own flat during a two hour beating during which his killers shouted: 'I want a spade so we can watch him dig his own grave and put him in it.'



The victim - who played trials for Stockport County - was eventually frogmarched to a country park where he was battered to death, stabbed in the back and neck with what was believed to be a chisel and thrown into a river.

The body of the victim who had suffered 72 injuries was later found floating in the water by dog walkers.



On the day of the killing Platt had sent a message to one of the killers on her Facebook page saying: 'Are U getting Martin 2Day X.'



In the months prior to the murder, Platt also sent bullying messages to Mr Hyde on Facebook, one saying: 'My two-year-old nephew is more of a man than you'.

Another message read: 'You need to die really badly because no one likes you.'



At Manchester Crown Court a judge condemned Platt's 'haunting and casual approach to violence' as he jailed her for four years after she admitted conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

James Dellaway, 24, and Jason Hughes, 28, pleaded guilty to murder and were each jailed for life with a recommendation they each serve 25 years and 73 days.

Judge Mr Justice Ernest Ryder told Platt who is due to give birth to Mr Hyde's child in just one month's time said: 'You are a reprehensible amoral facilitator of casual violence.

'You admit setting up Martin Hyde knowing he would be beaten up. It was something you had done before on many occasions.

Brutal: James Dellaway, left, and Jason Hughes, right, pleaded guilty to murder and were each jailed for life for the savage killing of Martin Hyde



'It is almost inexplicable despicable behaviour. You did not nothing to stop this orgy of violence that was occurring in front of you.'



He added: 'This was a crime of the gravest severity against a defenceless vulnerable man who was a talented footballer and who was described as someone who wouldn't hurt a fly.

'This society and this court views the actions of those responsible with the utmost revulsion.

'It was sadistic bullying and the background described a haunting and casual approach to violence that is all to prevalent.



'There was a despicable history of bullying of Martin Hyde and there have been acts of depravity towards him.'



Mr Hyde was murdered last November after a row over £15, which he owed to Dellaway's girlfriend Lindsay Dunn for board and lodgings at her flat in Stockport.



When the victim realised he had no money to pay, Hughes and Dellaway turned up and threatened him with violence.

Within three days the two thugs had grabbed Mr Hyde outside a council drop in centre, beat him up inside a phone box then later attacked him again behind a church.

Hughes said: 'If you don't get me the f****** money I will put you six feet under.'

Mr Hyde went to a police station but left without being seen by an officer.



On November 6, Mr Hyde and Platt were in Stockport town centre when he saw his tormentors and fled to a nearby shop.

Platt then lured Mr Hyde to a bus station by pretending she had a text message from a friend asking her to meet up.

Instead, Mr Hyde was ambushed by Dellaway and Hughes who were hiding in a doorway, jumping out as he passed by and knocking him to the floor where



They then punched and repeatedly kicked him in the neck and face.

Mr Hyde again went to police and the two attackers were arrested. But they were bailed and carried on terrorising him.

On November 29 Mr Hyde turned up at Platt's flat, when she tipped off the two thugs and they arrived minutes later to give him a fourth and fatal beating.



Two witnesses who turned up at the flat in Brecon Towers, Stockport saw Mr Hyde battered and bleeding on the floor of the lounge with a blood soaked sponge in his mouth.

Hughes and Dellaway were repeatedly kicked him and battering him with a saucepan, with Platt looking on unconcerned as the the victim was then ordered to wash his own blood off his face.

Hughes was overheard calling for a meeting at nearby Reddish Vale country park and shouted: 'I want a spade so we can watch him dig his own grave and put him in it.'



He then offered Mr Hyde a choice: 'Death on the motorway or at the Vale.'

Mr Hyde was bundled out of the flat where they met Lindsay Dunn who shouted at the victim: 'you deserve it' before Mr Hyde was dragged down a flight of stairs towards a waterfall where he was repeatedly punched and kicked.

He then had his head repeatedly stamped on as he lay dying on the ground. The killers knifed him five times in the back and three in the neck before his body was lifted over a fence and tossed into the waters of the River Tame.

Mr David Turner QC prosecuting said: 'Platt orchestrated the violence at her flat. She didn't lift a finger or raise her voice to help the man who she knew might be the father of the child she was expecting.

'She like Dunn was quite prepared to see Martin terrified humiliated and badly beaten. She was instrumental in bringing Dellaway and Hughes back to the flat.



'She watched whilst the two men beat Martin up, she seemed unconcerned by this brutality which was akin to sadistic bullying.'



Dunn, 20, and another accomplice Peter Mayne, 18, admitted conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm. Dunn received a four-year sentence and Mayne got 18 months.

In a statement Mr Hyde's family said: 'He will be so sadly missed, we cannot believe the terrible way in which he has been taken from us.

'He was a good lad and did not deserve what has happened. We're just glad Martin has been given justice for this horrendous crime against him. He was a happy fun loving wonderful person and will always be in our hearts.'



Det Chief Inspector Jon Chadwick said: 'This was a sadistic and inhumane attack on a vulnerable young man, during which a gang of people turned on their victim for no reason other than a small amount of money being owed.

'It was the most brutal and sustained attack I have witnessed in my career.'

