David Thompson died after he was attacked by Brandon Brooks after a night out in Creswell on the evening of Friday, January 26.
Earlier, on the same night Brooks and his friend Ben Hart had an altercation with another group. The next morning, they picked up another friend, Michael McCann, and drove around the town in the early hours of the morning, hoping to find one of the men involved.
When the group spotted David in Elmton Road—who coincidentally was dressed exactly like the man the three were searching for—Brooks leaped out of Hart’s van and gave him a single blow to the head.
Even though David was taken to the hospital right away, he passed away on February 15th, having been unconscious for 19 days.
After being detained and facing murder charges, the three later entered guilty pleas to the subsequent offences. Brooks, 24, entered a guilty plea to manslaughter on Fairfield Close in Nether Langwith. Hart, 20, of Creswell’s Skinner Street, entered a guilty plea to aiding an offender. And McCann, 38, of Markham Road, Chesterfield, pleaded guilty to Section 4 Public Order.
The trio were sentenced today at Derby Crown Court where Brooks was jailed for five years, Hart was sentenced to nine months imprisonment and McCann was jailed for 12 weeks.
Emma, the daughter of Mr. Thompson, detailed the suffering that his family and friends experienced after his passing in a victim impact statement submitted to the court.
“The events have shattered our lives, leaving my son without their grandfather and my brothers and I without a father,” the woman stated. The loss of him has been deeply felt by our extended family and friends.
“I still find it hard to believe that one day my dad won’t return home. Even though I am well aware that he is deceased, I still fully expect him to knock on my door or give me a call.
“My thoughts about my dad’s passing, how he felt when he was hurt, and that he was abandoned there on the side of the road, injured, in pain and alone.
“The loss of David has devastated a lot of my friends as well; many of them are still finding it difficult to accept his absence. When I speak with our friends, a lot of them express the feeling that they have lost their one true friend; for a lot of them, David was that person.
The detective inspector in charge of Mr. Thompson’s death, Detective Inspector Maria Pleace, stated: “During this extremely trying time, our thoughts are with David’s loved ones.” The senseless acts of Michael McCann, Ben Hart, and Brandon Brooks had disastrous and irreversible effects.
This case is a sobering reminder of the truly terrible consequences that can arise from a brief incident of needless violence. I sincerely hope that they will be able to start over now that there is no chance of David returning to them.
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