A 16-year-old boy has been been found guilty after hitting stepfather who was looking for stolen bikes

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A 16-year-old boy has been convicted of the murder of a stepfather whom he hit with a cricket bat while the man was searching for his family’s two stolen bicycles.

The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, was found guilty by a unanimous verdict after a jury at Stafford crown court rejected his claims of self-defence and lack of intent to cause serious harm.

A seven-day trial was told that the teenager, from Telford in Shropshire, fractured the skull of Derek Whyteside after creeping up behind the 42-year-old during a dispute over the missing bikes.

Whyteside collapsed and his head struck the ground, causing a further fracture, and he died in hospital two days later.

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Opening the crown’s case against the 16-year-old last week, the prosecutor Kevin Hegarty QC said the teenager hit Whyteside with a full swing of the bat on the afternoon of 18 June this year.

Hegarty said the victim, who lived with his partner and her four children in Dawley, Telford, had gone to a house in nearby Malinslee.

“He was looking for two stolen bicycles and also he was looking for those responsible for stealing them,” the barrister said.

Whyteside, who was said by witnesses to have been armed with a knuckle-duster, did not see the teenager as he was struck and had no chance to defend himself or to get away, the court heard.

The defendant claimed to have been in fear for his life after being confronted by Whyteside, telling jurors he picked up a cricket bat after being chased and threatened.

After the jury’s verdict, the boy was remanded in custody and will face a mandatory life sentence next month.

Adjourning the case, the judge Paul Glenn told him: “The type of sentence in this case – as I’m sure you have been told – is inevitable. But I want as much information about you as possible before I decide what the minimum term of that sentence shall be.”

A press application for the boy to be identified will be ruled upon at the sentencing hearing.