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Warren Free

Age: 42

Sex: male

Date: 1 Aug 2014

Place: Coronation Close, Spalding

Warren Free died from head injuries.

Six teenagers were tried for his murder but found not guilty.

He had confronted a number of youths in a park after his property was damaged but was attacked and beaten with a metal pole as well as being kicked, punched and stamped on.

After the attack, he was able to get back home and went to bed, but when friends were unable to rouse him, he was airlifted to hospital and later died from his injuries.

However, it was heard that pathologists were unable to state how Warren Free had received the fatal injury to his head, with it being noted that he might have fallen, been punched, kicked or something else.

It was also heard that the youths had said that they had been acting in self-defence, or defending others in their group, whilst some of them said that they had just been innocent bystanders or had been 50 metres away from Warren Free at the time.

A 15-year-old girl who admitted in a police interview that she hurt her foot kicking Warren Free in the head, and that it was the last blow he had received said, 'One minute he was up. When I kicked him he just went straight down. He was just laid there not making any movement'. She said that she cried on the way home and said, 'My foot was hurting from where I kicked him'. She also said, 'Have I killed him? What have I done?'. The girl also admitted hitting Warren Free with the metal pole, striking four blows, after one of the male youths knocked him to the ground and said that she saw another girl jump on Warren Free with both feet.

The girl added that Warren Free had grabbed her ankle, saying, 'He just wouldn’t let go of my ankle. His head was already cut. He still wouldn’t let go so I just smacked him again. I didn’t use full force. It wasn’t hard enough to kill him just hard enough to make him let go'.

When the defence made their closing speech, they noted that one of the youths on trial for murder might have landed the blow that had killed Warren Free, but noted that he might not have and stated that, 'Nothing that the prosecution has presented before you can make that stronger. Might is not being sure. Might is a may be. It is not enough in a criminal trial. You have to be satisfied so you are sure'.

He also added that the prosecution had presented no evidence that one of the youths had even been involved in the attack.

A 15-year-old boy was convicted of perverting the course of justice whilst another 17-year-old admitted the same charge before the trial.

At the trial it was heard that the 15-year-old boy had walked to the scene of the assault and had seen a girl hit Warren Free with the metal pole and after they had walked away, he had noted that she still had it in her hands, and suggested that the metal pole should be thrown away in case it had fingerprints on it. It was then heard that the girl handed the metal pole to another youth who then threw it in a river.

Warren Free had lived in Coronation Close, Spalding. The park had been just behind his street.


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