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Michael Peers

Age: 37

Sex: male

Date: 22 Jul 2018

Place: Enfield House, Halliwell, Bolton, Lancashire

Michael Peers died after receiving internal injuries following a disturbance outside his flat.

It was thought that he had been kicked or stamped on.

Eight people were arrested in connection with his death and files relating to two murder suspects were sent to the Crown Prosecution Service, but no charges were made.

It was heard that there had been a disturbance outside his flat in Enfield House, Brownlow Way and that he had gone outside to remonstrate.

After he went back into his flat and called his mother at about 10.25pm and told her that he had been grabbed by the neck and punched.

He later called his ex-partner and told her that he had been punched and then said, 'four smackheads upstairs jumped me'.

However, he died about four hours after the incident.

At his inquest, Michael Peers was described as a chronic alcoholic with a serious liver disease. He was also said to have suffered from depression and other conditions associated with alcoholism.

Michael Peers had lost two litres of blood from a 10cm tear in the tissue connecting his organs.

His post mortem showed that he had suffered a severe trauma to the abdomen which caused his death and the pathologist said that that had almost certainly been caused by kicking or stamping.

A forensic pathologist said that he would ordinarily associate the type of injuries that Michael Peers had with a road accident of a fall from a height. He said that his injury was typical of a really really heavy kick or stamp onto the abdomen.

He noted that he could find no evidence of serious grip marks about his neck.

He said that at the time of his death that Michael Peers had been heavily intoxicated and he described the condition of his liver as 'very, very bad'.

However, it was noted that he had made no mention of being kicked or stamped on in either of the calls that he had made.

At his inquest, the Coroner said that they were unable to state who or what killed Michael Peers.

His mother said that during the call that Michael Peers had made to her that had heard him arguing and recognised two other voices in the background. She said that Michael Peers then told her he had been punched and that he said, 'I am going to smack him, he has just grabbed me by the neck', after which the line was cut off.

She said that she then called a woman that Michael Peers had been seeing at the time and said that she said, 'smack heads were making noise in the hallway', and that she then told her that he had gone outside and 'told them to shut up' and that they had then 'started on him'.

The woman later told her that she should check on Michael Peers as he was 'fitting' behind his door.

In the call that Michael Peers made to his mother at 11.35pm on 21 July 2018, he said, 'You need to ring your mum. I have just had murder'. She said that he later told her that he had been punched and 'jumped by smack heads upstairs'.

She said that she thought that his injuries had been inflicted during the earlier incident outside his flat. She added, 'I could tell he had a drink, but he did not seem anywhere near as drunk as he could be'.

When the paramedics were later called they found Michael Peers lying on the floor and despite 20 minutes of trying to save him he died at about 1am.

The police later said, 'We strongly suspect that the answers to key questions around how Michael came about his injuries lie with a close-knit community that is aware of what has happened'.

The Crown Prosecution Service said, 'The CPS received a file of evidence from Greater Manchester Police in relation to two people who had been arrested on suspicion of the murder of Michael Peers. Having considered all the evidence the CPS concluded that the legal test for a prosecution was not met and we advised the police that no charges could be authorised. Following a request from Mr Peers' family for this decision to be reviewed under the CPS Victims Right to Review scheme, the evidence was further considered by a legal manager who agreed that the legal test for a prosecution was not met'.

Michael Peers's eldest daughter, aged 19, said that she hoped that the Crown Prosecution Service would reopen his case. She added, 'It's just really hard, everyone's so angry. You're so angry because we know who those people are and it's hard for me, I live in the same town and I know exactly where they live and I can't even go shopping because I'm worried about bumping into them'.

Michael Peers had had three children and had been an Everton fan.


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