Murder trial: Man killed 'wanted to fight other customer'

On the second day of the trial into the death of Vincent McDonagh, Manchester Crown Court was told that an argument arose following a game of pool in the hours leading up to the father-of-one's death.

While 38-year-old Lee Burns, of Worsley Street, is accused of his murder, the court heard on Thursday that Mr McDonagh had gone outside the Manor Inn pub 'wanting to fight' another man named Terry Hynes and the resulting tension had led to the pub closing early.

Mr Hynes, who was also drinking at the Abbey Hills Road establishment on November 9 last year,  was called to the stand as a witness and told the court he had arrived already drunk to his ‘local’ between 4pm and 5pm.

The Manor Inn pub, on Abbey Hills Road, where Mr McDonagh and Burns were drinking on the fatal night in November (Image: Google Street View)

He told the court he had never met either Mr McDonagh or Burns, who had arrived together, prior to that night but played pool against the former and beat him.

Mr Hynes said: “We were having a laugh, banter as lads do – nothing bad just silly banter. He was upset but in a good way, just lads’ banter nothing bad.”

Answering prosecuting Robert Hall, he said at no point did Mr Hynes consider the “banter” to be concerning, aggressive or violent.

Responding to questioning from defence barrister Richard Littler KC about whether he had an argument with Mr McDonagh, Mr Hynes replied: “It wasn’t an ‘argument’ argument, just shouting at each other as lads do nothing bad – just raised voices.”

Following the game of pool, at around 8.20pm CCTV footage taken from inside the Manor Inn, showed customer Michael Loveday and Burns “move position and get in front of" Mr McDonagh.

When asked why they did, Mr Hynes told the court that he did not know, nor did he know why he and Mr McDonagh shook hands.

Vincent McDonagh with his fiance, Demi, and their son (Image: GMP)

Mr Littler said: “We know that Vincent walks out of the pub, 10 to 12 minutes later Mr Hynes approaches him, and they both stand on the pavement.

“Do you remember at any stage anybody offering you [go] outside for a fight?”

Mr Hynes replied: “No.”

Mr Littler continued: “At 10.07pm, Mr Hynes stands up walks over to Vincent and stands face to face. About 20 seconds later Lee walks over to Vincent and tries to calm him down. Vincent proceeds to look across at Mr Hynes.

“At 10.08pm, the smiley Vincent moves position from the bar and faces Mr Hynes. At this point Lee and Gill stand in the middle of them.”

Mr Littler asked Mr Hynes why Lee and Gill, another customer, felt the need to stand in between him and Mr McDonagh.

He replied: “I can’t remember, they weren’t trying to stop a fight - definitely not.”

Roughly 25 minutes before the doors closed, at 10.26pm Mr Hynes reportedly got up from his seat and was pushed back.

Mr Littler said: “Can you think of a reason why a few minutes later Vincent has gone outside facing the Manor Inn pub taking his jumper off and thrown it on the floor? A few minutes later you go out with him and shake his hand.

Mr Hynes replied: "I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you."

Pressing Mr Hynes, Mr Littler continued: “Is it that you are deliberately not wanting to tell the jury that you and Vincent were behaving badly towards each other? You were the two that people were trying to stop from fighting.

Mr Hynes said: “I remember going in, having a game of pool and having banter – don’t remember any of this.”

The court heard that once the bar had closed earlier than usual - due to the trouble that arose, Mr Hynes left and walked down Whitby Road to the right of the pub, while Mr McDonagh walked up Abbey Hills Road, in the direction of Oldham town centre, with Burns.

It is the prosecution's case, as outlined during the first day of the trial, that things became heated between the pair during this walk and Burns assaulted Mr McDonagh.

CCTV footage previously played in court showed a scuffle broke out, with Burns punching Mr McDonagh to the head, knocking him to the floor.

As he lay on the floor, the expletive-laden argument continued, with Mr McDonagh using his left leg to try and keep Burns at a distance.

Burns then punched and stamped on Mr McDonagh's head while he was on the floor, before walking away and shouting, leaving Mr McDonagh in the street.

At around 11.45pm, roughly 40 minutes after Burns had left the scene, two people in a car spotted 45-year-old Mr McDonagh's body in the street, got out, noticed he was not alright and called 999.

Further evidence was heard on Thursday from consultant pathologist Dr Jamie Robinson who told the jury about Mr McDonagh's injuries.

The doctor said: “The first striking finding really was on the left side of the face – this was an area extending from the left eyebrow to the left temple.

“There was notable patterning within this bruise.”

He added: “In this case, given the circumstances and CCTV footage, my first impression was that this could represent a pattern of the footwear make.”

CCTV footage of the assault was captured by Abbey Hills Mini Mart (Image: Google Street View)

He went on to explain to the jury that the bruises appeared to have taken place at a similar time, and that the damage taken on the left side of Mr McDonagh's face was likely to have been the result of being stamped on.

While the left side of his face had grazing which was consistent with if it had been forced against the paving.

Dr Robinson’s evidence concluded that in his opinion Mr McDonagh died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head.

Consultant neuropathologist Dr Daniel Du Plessis, whose report was read out to the jury by Dr Robinson, examined the brain and found Mr McDonagh had died no later than 30 minutes after the blows to the head caught on CCTV outside of Abbey Hills Mini Mart, on Abbey Hills Road.

Dr Robinson said: “It’s in keeping with a very sudden death.”

Dr Du Plessis’ report found that he had died as a result of post-concussive conducive respiratory arrest.

The trial will continue today.