Booze-fuelled attackers did this to dad-of-three and then dumped him at his home (From St Helens Star)

Booze-fuelled attackers did this to dad-of-three Wayne Halliwell and then dumped him at his home

3:00pm Thursday 10th January 2013 in News Exclusive By Andrew Kilmurray at Liverpool Crown Court

THREE men who inflicted these gruesome injuries on a father-of-three before dumping him at his family home have been sentenced to lengthy jail terms.

Wayne Halliwell suffered two fractured eye sockets and severe bruising to his head and body after being repeatedly kicked and punched in Sutton Manor.

Fuelled by alcohol, his three attackers, Paul Sheffield, James Rennie and Daniel Moran had chased him for more than half a mile through woodland before unleashing the sustained assault between 4am and 5am on January 4, 2012.

They then led 46-year-old Mr Halliwell, who stands at 6ft 3ins and weighs more than 16 stone, to his home on Clock Face Road, where they knocked on the door and handed over his bloodied body to his wife.

The attackers told her they had found him in that state but when the victim later recovered he recalled that it was they who had inflicted the blows.

The court was told he has since undergone three operations, has had metal plates inserted in his face and is still suffering from blurred vision in one eye.

The ordeal has left him traumatised and, giving evidence at the men’s trial last November, he broke down as he explained how they had “battered the hell out of him”.

The court was told Sheffield, Rennie and Moran had “suspicions” Mr Halliwell and his friend, Michael Marr, had been up to no good on the morning of the attack.

But His Honour Judge Everett said the public must appreciate that anger brought about by suspicion cannot be used as justification for violence.

He added that it was his belief that the three attackers had been out that night “looking for trouble”.

The defendants chased the victim and his friend after an earlier altercation on Jubits Lane. Mr Marr escaped but Mr Halliwell, who the attackers all knew, felt the full force of their fury, attacking him near to Chandlers Way, Sutton Manor.

Judge Everett said: “Sheffield started it – you were looking for trouble and would have attacked Mr Marr if you could – instead you turned your anger – this contrived anger – on Mr Halliwell someone all three of you knew as a friend or acquaintance.

“It defies belief what you did. All three of you repeatedly kicked him while he was on the ground.”

The judge added: “He suffered serious injuries that could have been much worse. He could have died.

“This court has seen so many causes in which a kick or one punch to the face or head causes death.”

Judge Everett added that dropping Mr Halliwell at his home was a cynical move designed to avoid blame.

He said: “The real assistance would have been to phone an ambulance.

“(Instead) You dragged him 1km across parkland not because you were sorry for him but because you realised how far you had gone – hoping that because he was so badly injured he would not be in a position to remember what happened.

“That doesn’t help you at all it shows how seriously you had injured him and hoping that as a way of getting away with it.”

Sheffield, 26, of Bowland Avenue, Sutton Manor was described as the main player in the assault. He was jailed for nine years.

Rennie, 21, of Harvest Way, Clock Face was jailed for eight years and Moran, of Chandlers Way, Sutton Manor for seven years.

They were found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent after a trial. Judge Everett told them they must serve half of the terms before being released on licence.