Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A MAN WHO imprisoned and tortured to death a vulnerable man over nine days has been sentenced to life in prison.
James Wheatley (29) was found guilty by a jury of the murder of Lee Irving (24), a man with learning difficulties who had believed he was a close friend.
Wheatley had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice at his home in Newcastle, England.
Barry Imray (35) pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and was found guilty by jury of a further charge of causing/allowing the death of a vulnerable person.
Wheatley’s mother, Julie Mills (52) and his then girlfriend Nicole Lawrence (22) were also found guilty of charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and causing/allowing the death of a vulnerable person. They received eight and four years respectively.
Child’s pushchair
In June of last year, police were contacted by a man who identified himself as ‘Danny,’ later found to be Barry Imray, claiming that he had found a body
During the course of the police investigation, it was discovered that Imray himself had used a child’s pushchair to move the body of Lee Irving 800 metres from the house he shared with his co-defendant.
Irving suffered 27 rib fractures, multiple bruises to his limbs and body, abrasions, lacerations and fractures of the bones of his nose and jaw, with the injuries delivered by James Wheatley eventually resulting in the respiratory failure which killed him.
Gerry Wareham, chief crown prosecutor for CPS North East, said: “James Wheatley exploited the friendship of Lee Irving in the worst way imaginable. Lee only wanted friendship but, instead, became the target of Wheatley’s aggression.
After the attacks on Lee Irving, the defendants made every effort to hide what they had done; sedating and imprisoning him in their home, moving his body after death and removing key evidence.
“Even those defendants not directly involved in the attacks would have recognised that the extent of his injuries required immediate medical attention. Not one of them tried to assist Lee or to prevent further injury to him. This has been a complex case, in which the defendants’ crude attempts to hamper the police investigation have been systematically dismantled and laid bare by police and prosecutors.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
This whole story makes me sad. What an utter piece of shite. Let’s hope he rots.
Sorry to be facetious but, he’s the head off one of the o’Driscoll Olympian bros!
Delighted his mother and girlfriend of the time got jailed instead of suspended sentences. Hope they suffer now
Inbred by the looks of him. Some crime and evil families should be wiped out. I’d give them the chair
Dirty low life xxxx of the earth I hope he gets a horrible cancer and dies very slowly
Please God all them C#NTZ meet some bogey in prison who has the business end of a snooker cue in his pocket..
Animals usually put their prey out of pain quickly this ‘person’ is a pervert who must be incarcerated indefinitely for the betterment of civilized society.
27 rib fractures? Is there not only 12 pairs of ribs. Animal.
Yes. But you can have multiple fractures in one rib…
My point exactly
It gives one the shudders to know that there are so many people in the world who get off on sick fantasies about causing pain and suffering to others.
Some of the comments on here are really scary and one has to wonder how sick their authors are.
I find the complete lack of empathy for the victim and revulsion for the killer in your comment the scariest of all.
Just saying.
Funny that their shîtebags look identical to our shîtebags…………
Why is there so many evil people in the world
@Linda Hughes: Because they enjoy being evil and the problem is standing up for yourself just makes them worse and the justice system is a joke here to boot.
Stand up for yourself then they attack you or try to ruin your name with malicious gossip out of hatred or to excuse themselves and I think that is the way society is going. Victims now are treated worse than the criminals…
And they say you can’t tell what people are by how they look?
Society has gone mad in my view, being polite is a sign of weakness, having a disability is a sign to be attacked, being friends is a sign of being used by another even for their own sick pleasure.
What is wrong with people as there is more and more of this bull where friends kill friends, friends don’t kill friends as friends would never hurt their friends, only s…. does that?
Rot in prison
What a savage!!! I hope rots in prison and then in hell!!!
Society keeps getting worse. What will we be reading in 20 to 30 years time??
have your say