Man whose family had ‘grudge’ with ‘gentle giant’ found GUILTY of murdering him in his own home

A man has been found GUILTY of murdering a ‘gentle giant’ who was battered to death in his own home. Beloved dad Warren Burns died[1] days after being attacked at his home on Heysham Avenue in Withington, south Manchester. A trial at Manchester Crown Court heard that three men knocked at the door uninvited then ‘went upstairs to find him’.

Prosecutors said Mr Burns, 37, was ‘kicked, stamped on, punched and beaten’ on May 21. Mr Burns’ partner Lucille Lee was at home at the time of the attack with their 10-week old son.

“Terrified for the safety of her baby, she ran from the house into the back garden and called the police,” said prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC. “The thuds she could hear were the sound of Warren Burns being killed.”

A neighbour then went to the house and saw the front door open. He then went upstairs and found a ‘badly injured’ Mr Burns. Following ten hours of jury deliberations, Ryan White, 29, has been found guilty of murder.

Damian White, 33, was found not guilty of murder but guilty of an alternate offence of manslaughter, and Brandon White, 21, was cleared of both murder and manslaughter. Prosecutors said there may have been a ‘grudge of sorts’ between Mr Burns and the White family which ‘rumbled away in the background for years’. The jury was told members of the White family assembled together on the afternoon of May 21 and ‘knew where they were going’.

Two cars travelled together in convoy to Heysham Avenue. They then knocked on the door of Mr Burns and asked to see him when Ms Lee answered the door. “It was not a social or friendly visit,” Mr Lumley said. “Uninvited, they went upstairs to find him.

He ended up on his bed, where outnumbered and defenceless, he was kicked, stamped on, punched and beaten with such force that, even with police and paramedics racing to the scene, his life could not be saved.” At trial, Damian White admitted manslaughter but denied murder. Ryan White told jurors that he was dealing drugs to the neighbour at the time of the attack, and Brandon White admitted hitting Mr Burns in self defence, before stating that Ryan White had ‘kicked and stamped’ on Mr Burns’ head.

Ryan White, of no fixed abode and Damian White, of Woodham Road, Northern Moor, will be sentenced on Tuesday, December 19.

Casey-Jay McDonagh Andrews, 19, of Lloyd Street South, Fallowfield[4], girlfriend of Brandon White, was also found not guilty of assisting an offender.

Brandon White, of Radstock Close, Fallowfield, and Casey-Jay McDonagh Andrews were discharged from the dock.

References

  1. ^ Beloved dad Warren Burns died (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  2. ^ She asked him to pass her the phone charger… and ‘something inside him snapped’ (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  3. ^ ‘What the Blackpool Victoria nurse did to my mum will haunt us for the rest of our lives’ (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
  4. ^ Fallowfield (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)

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