by An argument over a mess of dogs in a park led to a vicious attack and the death of a “very loving” man at the hands of a group of teenagers.
John Hackett, 36 – son, brother, nephew and cousin – would walk his dog in a park in Warwickshire after work every day.
It was on one of those daily walks that he was fatally attacked by three teenagers in April last year, while the rest of the gang of 12 watched and filmed the violence for their “entertainment”.
The 16-year-old girl and two boys, aged 15 and 16, who cannot be identified because of their age, admitted manslaughter and were given detention and training orders, which are custodial sentences, by the Judge Choudhury KC at Warwick Crown Court. in Leamington Spa on Thursday.
Detective Chief Inspector Collette O’Keefe, from Warwickshire Police’s Major Investigation Unit, said The Independent “The “haunting” footage of Mr Hackett pleading, surrounded by screaming and shouting, will stay with me” as she issued a warning about young people’s use of social media.
“It’s terrible,” she said. “Instead of filming they should have been intervening and preventing what happened – perhaps Seán would be here to tell the story.”
Instead, Mr Hackett arrived home from Snowhill Recreation Ground on the evening of April 25, described by DCI O’Keefe as the “walking sadist”.
The next morning, his body was found by his devastated mother at the top of the stairs in the house they shared on Camp Hill Road in Nuneaton. Emergency services alerted Mr Hackett at 8am, and the three offenders were arrested later that day.
The police believe the senseless death was tragically unintentional and unplanned.
She said: “It never needed to get to that level. Anti-social behavior that eventually developed over a period of several weeks… Those involved did it for their own entertainment. I don’t think for one moment they thought John was going to die.”
She explained that the grisly killing occurred on one occasion when Mr Hackett did not pick up his dog’s mess. The teenagers began verbally abusing him and calling him names over the incident, with his family describing how he was “bullied and tormented” in the following weeks.
The police suspected that Mr Hackett was an “easy target” as he would reliably walk his dog every day after work, so the offenders were aware of his routine. He also looked different, with long hair and clothes unlike the defendants.
She said Mr Hackett faced verbal abuse on the day of the attack, which probably left him frustrated. “That’s the green light for that group to go in and attack him,” she said. Evidence from the teenagers’ mobile phones suggested the group intended to abuse him but not physically assault him.
After Mr Hackett and a member of the public were alerted, the police attended the scene and spoke to the three attackers who claimed they were acting in self-defence. The officers then went to Mr Hackett’s home where they found him in serious distress, with head and chest injuries, and took him to hospital. However, he released himself two hours later and went back home, where he collapsed the next morning.
Mr Hackett was beaten until a Home Office post-mortem found he died from abdominal injuries so severe they were described as having been in a car crash.
In a victim impact statement read by the court on Thursday, Mr Hackett’s mother, Christine Smith, said of her son’s death: “I just want to say that it has ruined my life and put me through hell.”
Nine teenagers watched, some of whom filmed the violence, later sharing the footage on social media. The girl defendant was among those who made a video of the attack before she entered. The hilarious clip was widely circulated, with police warning the public not to share it.
DCI O’Keefe blamed at least the influence of social media for the incident, pointing to the widespread spread of violence on platforms that followed, as well as the “debug” that social media can induce in people .
“The level of violence shown by these offenders was appalling and Mr Hackett must have been terrified throughout,” said DCI O’Keefe. “Our thoughts are with his family who have been devastated by his death.
“This incident should be a warning to people – violence has consequences, and sometimes those consequences can be tragic. These three young men may not have intended to kill Mr. Hackett, but that is what happened in the end, and like Mr. Hackett’s family, they will live with the consequences of their actions for the rest of their lives.
“No outcome can ever change what happened, but I hope that Mr Hackett’s family can now begin to rebuild their lives after such a terrible tragedy.”
Paying tribute to Mr Hackett after the sentencing, his family said in a statement: “John’s death is for us. We have lost a son, a brother, a nephew and a cousin, taken from us because of a mindless act of violence. John was bullied and tormented for weeks leading to his tragic death. Not a day goes by without us thinking about Sean and what he went through.
“We will never be able to forgive those involved.”
The 16-year-old girl, from the Nuneaton area, was sentenced to 18 months, while the 15-year-old boy, from Willencote, Staffordshire, was sentenced to two years and the 16-year-old boy, from Nuneaton, was sentenced to two year.
