Boy, 16, guilty of murdering Derek Whyteside with cricket bat
A 16-year-old Telford boy who killed a stepfather searching for two stolen bikes by hitting him on the back of the head with a cricket bat has been convicted of murder.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of murdering Derek Whyteside by a jury of six men and six women after a seven-day trial at Stafford Crown Court. He now faces a life sentence.
Judge Paul Glenn said he wanted a pre-sentence report conducted before deciding on the sentence.
It took deliberations over seven hours and 26 minutes for the jury to decide the teenager was guilty of murder.
The youth appeared stunned and put his head in his hands as the unanimous verdict was delivered.
There were shouts and abuse from a man in the public gallery as the verdict was read out.
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The trial had been told the 16-year-old hit 42-year-old Mr Whyteside on the back of the head with the bat, fracturing his skull, at Withywood Drive, in Malinslee, shortly before 4pm on June 18, after a dispute about the stolen bikes.
The jury rejected the claim that the teenager had acted in self defence.
Witnesses told the trial that the 16-year-old, who had taken an exam at school that morning, shouted that he had “killed him” as Mr Whyteside lay motionless in the road and bleeding from the head. Mr Whyteside died two days later at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The trial had heard how Mr Whyteside had gone looking for the people he believed responsible for stealing two bikes from his stepchildren.
Armed with a knuckleduster, the former factory worker was said to have confronted the teenager who ran away.
The youngster who then armed himself with a cricket bat, for what he said was self defence, then hit Mr Whyteside in another confrontation at Withywood Drive.
Coverage of the court case:
The trial heard that Mr Whyteside was chasing the youth, with a group also chasing him.
As Mr Whyteside stopped and turned to speak with the other group the 16-year-old hit him on the back of the head with the bat.
Earlier that day Mr Whyteside’s partner, Michelle Beddall, had gone to the youth’s house after getting CCTV footage showing the bikes being taken by teenagers from outside their home in Dawley.
Ms Beddall, who works as a carer, told jurors a boy at the house laughed after she spoke to him about the bikes, while his mother claimed the youth in the footage was not her son.
The trial had also heard how Ms Beddall had posted a social media message saying the thieves “stole from the wrong people this time”.
Asked what she meant while giving evidence Ms Beddall responded: “I wasn’t going to let it lie. I was going to go to the house and get my bikes back.”
During the trial a witness to the attack, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she saw the 16-year-old stand directly behind Mr Whyteside before swinging the bat with great force.
The witness said she then saw Mr Whyteside fall to the ground where two men then punched him in the head. She told the court she also heard a woman say ‘take pictures, take pictures’.
Another witness, Grant Jones, described Mr Whyteside as going “limp” after being hit.
He told how he had seen three teenagers, one carrying a bat, running up the road, with a man chasing them, and another group following the man.
He said: “The youths were looking behind them to the man who was chasing them.
“They were all effing and blinding.
“The man then stopped and turned around to face the group who were coming up behind him.
“There was a stand-off between him and the other group but it was not long before the man with the cricket bat reappeared.
“He hit him around the back of the head.
“It was a two-handed, baseball-type swing.
“I could hear the crack from where I was standing. It was not an accident.
“He went limp as if he had been knocked out and just went to the ground.
“I went out of the house to see if he was OK. I went across to the man on the ground and he was not conscious. People were still effing and blinding.
“They were swearing at him on the floor. I said ‘What are you doing?’ He was out cold. There was a chap saying it was self defence.
“I could see he [the man on the ground] had a knuckle-duster on. I wondered what I had walked in to.”
