A man from Audlem has been found guilty of killing a man he believed was chatting up his partner.
Daniel Griffiths (pictured) repeatedly beat Andrew Guy with a baseball bat shortly after he had sent his partner the text message ‘on way babe, 10 mins’.
After the attack at 43-year-old Griffith’s property on Stafford Street, Audlem, Andrew returned to his mother’s home in nearby Buerton.
But Andrew, 54, was in significant pain throughout the night and the following morning his body was found by his mother.
A jury yesterday (May 4) found Griffiths guilty of Andrew’s manslaughter following a 15-day trial at Chester Crown Court.
He is due to be sentenced at the same court on Wednesday May 11.
On October 15, Andrew had travelled to his mother’s home by train from Bournemouth where he had been living for around four months.
The following afternoon he drove to Market Drayton and Whitchurch to meet friends
While in Whitchurch he received a text message and a phone call from Griffith’s partner, from a mobile phone allegedly used by both Griffiths and his partner.
Andrew arrived at the pair’s house at around 7pm to bring them drugs and shortly afterwards a neighbour heard raised voices involving an argument between Andrew and the couple.
During this time, Griffiths dragged Andrew in and out of the property and used a baseball bat to hit him in the stomach and leg.
The blows to his leg left him with dented marks which he covered with a T-shirt.
After the assault, Andrew drove back to Buerton and changed clothes before picking up a takeaway in Market Drayton that he’d promised to bring home to his mother.
While waiting for the takeaway, he sent text messages to Griffiths and his partner’s phone saying he was in “10 out of 10” pain in his stomach and bleeding as a result of the injuries inflicted upon him.
When he returned home the pain from the assault intensified and he confided in his mother that Griffiths had “set about me” with a baseball bat.
The following morning at around 10.15am on Sunday April 17, Andrew was found in the bathroom.
An ambulance attended but paramedics and his mother could not revive Andrew.
A Home Office Post Mortem (HOPM) found he had died due to a large amount of internal bleeding in to his abdomen from blunt force trauma.
On Friday October 29, Griffiths was arrested at his address and charged. The baseball bat was recovered from his property.
Senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Dave Hutcheon said: “Andrew died an agonising and slow death due to extensive internal bleeding after being struck numerous times from Griffiths hitting him with what we believe was a baseball bat.
“While we may never know exactly why Andrew was attacked by Griffiths we believe the reason was closer to home than over bringing drugs to the address and because he wrongly thought Andrew was romantically interested in his girlfriend.
“Since Andrew died it has been a difficult time for his mother and his family and friends and our thoughts have been with them since he passed away.
“We have worked incredibly hard to ensure that we were able to find his killer and to be able to give him and his family the justice they deserve.”
Andrew’s family have paid tribute to him, saying: “While it doesn’t ease the pain we’ve been caused by Andrew’s senseless death, we are grateful for the guilty verdict.
“Andrew did not deserve to die the way he did, and the trauma of it has left its mark on all of us.
“We would like to thank all of the people who bravely came forward to offer help and information to the police and also those who came to court to give evidence so that the person responsible for Andrew’s death could be brought to justice.
“Andrew was a dear son, brother, uncle and father and we will miss him terribly.”
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