Harley Quinn
October 2nd, 2009, 12:12 PM
A man and a teenager have been jailed for life for murdering a father-of-five as he walked home from a shop in Staffordshire.
Michael Eccles, 43, died a day after being attacked in the Dimbles area of Lichfield on 25 January.
Carl Keatley, 21, of Greencroft, must serve a minimum of 13 years and Jordan Carroll, 16, of Lichfield, was given a minimum of 11 years.
The pair were convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on 11 August.
The youth's father Edward Carroll, 55, of Windmill Close, Lichfield, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
He was sentenced to three years in jail.
The trial in August heard how he tried to help his son "cover up" the crime by putting the boy's blood-stained clothes in the washing machine and cleaning blood from his head.
Michael Eccles' brother-in-law, John Bayliss: "There is no way this can be called justice"
The jury was told how Carroll and Keatley had been drinking vodka in a local park all day before getting into a "verbal exchange" with Mr Eccles as he left the nearby store.
Factory worker Mr Eccles, who had gone out to buy a bottle of wine and some milk, then asked the pair to move on.
Witnesses saw Keatley and Carroll "pushing, barging and intimidating" him.
The pair then chased him and knocked him to the ground before punching, kicking and stamping on him.
He was left lying in the street with a burst eye socket, 10 broken ribs, broken bones in his neck and massive facial injuries.
The bottle of wine Mr Eccles had bought was also found smashed on the concrete next to him. He later died in hospital.
link = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/8286715.stm
Michael Eccles, 43, died a day after being attacked in the Dimbles area of Lichfield on 25 January.
Carl Keatley, 21, of Greencroft, must serve a minimum of 13 years and Jordan Carroll, 16, of Lichfield, was given a minimum of 11 years.
The pair were convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on 11 August.
The youth's father Edward Carroll, 55, of Windmill Close, Lichfield, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
He was sentenced to three years in jail.
The trial in August heard how he tried to help his son "cover up" the crime by putting the boy's blood-stained clothes in the washing machine and cleaning blood from his head.
Michael Eccles' brother-in-law, John Bayliss: "There is no way this can be called justice"
The jury was told how Carroll and Keatley had been drinking vodka in a local park all day before getting into a "verbal exchange" with Mr Eccles as he left the nearby store.
Factory worker Mr Eccles, who had gone out to buy a bottle of wine and some milk, then asked the pair to move on.
Witnesses saw Keatley and Carroll "pushing, barging and intimidating" him.
The pair then chased him and knocked him to the ground before punching, kicking and stamping on him.
He was left lying in the street with a burst eye socket, 10 broken ribs, broken bones in his neck and massive facial injuries.
The bottle of wine Mr Eccles had bought was also found smashed on the concrete next to him. He later died in hospital.
link = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/8286715.stm