George Hancock

George Hancock died from a head injury at his home in Mount Pleasant Road, Mow Cop on 18 October 1983.

His cause of death was given as brain damage due to fractures of the skull.

His 24-year-old stepson was tried for his manslaughter at Chester Crown Court, but acquitted. 

It was alleged that he had come home from work to find him asleep on the settee and his meal burning in the cooker and had hit out at him. However, he denied it, stating that when he came home he found his stepfather lying on the settee and thought he had been drinking and slapped his cheek in an attempted to wake him up and then left him. He said that when he later returned he found his stepfather still on the settee and became worried and an ambulance was called.

At the trial it was heard that George Hancock had suffered from two skull fractures that were probably caused by one severe blow. The Home Office pathologist said that he thought that it was highly unlikely that the injuries were sustained during a fall, although the post mortem showed that George Hancock's skull was just half the normal thickness. 

However, the pathologist for the defence said that in his opinion the injuries could ave happened earlier in the afternoon in a fall downstairs or against the fireplace. He said that he thought that George Hancock might have been knocked unconscious, recovered enought to cook his son's meal and to have then felt unwell and lain down on the sofa where he was found.