Twelve men jailed for vicious deadly assault on Rochdale man

Lathan Forrester

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Twelve men have been jailed after two men were viciously attacked in a Rochdale bar with one later dying from his injuries.

31-year-old John Lee Barrett sustained multiple injuries in the attack. He did not recover consciousness and died on Tuesday 27 December 2011 from his injuries.

Lathan Forrester (born 25/07/1989), of Great Western Street, Moss Side was found guilty of attempted section 18 assault and wounding with intent to commit GBH . He had already pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing and was jailed for 14 years eight months.

Kamar Anderson (08/09/1986) of Hayfield Close, West Gorton and Derico Smith (born 30/07/1992), of Brentnor Road, New Moston were found guilty of attempted section 18 assault, wounding with intent to commit GBH and violent disorder. Both were jailed for 14 years each.

Ashaun Townsend (born 14/09/1993), of Woodstock Road, Moston, was found guilty of attempted section 18 assault and wounding with intent to commit GBH . He had already pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing and was jailed for 13 years.

Tremaine Lee (born 01/06/1993), of Yeovil Street, Moss Side, was found guilty of attempted section 18 assault and wounding with intent to commit GBH . He had already pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing and was jailed for 12 years.

Lance Forrester (born 24/06/1986), of Great Western Street, Moss Side was found guilty of wounding with intent to commit GBH and had already pleaded guilty to violent disorder. He was jailed for 10 years.

A 17 year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of attempted section 18 assault and violent disorder. He was jailed for six years.

Rummal Ingram (born 31/07/1987), of Wilson Street, Beswick, was found guilty of violent disorder and jailed for three years nine months.

Clarence Edwards (14/08/1988) of no fixed address, Warren Mason (born 11/02/1983), of Claremont Road, Moss Side, Olushola Watson (born 29/09/1989), of HMP Manchester and Jermaine Wilson (born 18/01/1991), of Spindle Tree Avenue, Blackley pleaded guilty to violent disorder and were sentenced to two years six months, two years six months, two years nine months and two years nine months respectively.

All were sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on Monday 25 March 2013.

At 11.00pm on Saturday 24 December 2011, a fashion show and music night was being held in a private function room at Sinclair's night club, Drake Street, Rochdale.

At approximately 2.00am, 31-year-old John Lee Barrett drove to the club with a family member.

Unbeknown to him, a gang of men drove to the event and parked up in Rochdale town centre before gathering outside the nightclub shortly after John's arrival.

The group of men entered the club, many avoiding payment as they ran up the stairs into the function room. Witnesses said they immediately felt the atmosphere change and anticipated trouble.

The men congregated at the bar and by around 2.30am, one of the men and John Barrett bumped into each other.

There was an exchange of words before Mr Barrett was struck to the head and the group of men attacked en masse.

They used their fists, feet, bottles and glasses and grabbed whatever weapons were to hand, including using two heavy metal stanchion poles and ropes with brass hooks on the end which had been used to section off a VIP area. One of the men was also armed with a knife.

Witnesses describe the gang as attacking like 'a swarm of bees' and a 'pack of wolves' as they hid under tables to avoid flying bottles and glasses.

The doormen were outnumbered and fearful of intervening, such was the ferocity of the attack.

John was surrounded and knocked to the floor where the group continued to attack him before he was eventually pulled through a doorway by friends to safety. He had sustained multiple injuries, had been glassed in the head and was drifting in and out of consciousness. Friends and club staff rendered first aid but then discovered that he had sustained a stab wound to the back.

Meanwhile the gang of men had turned their attention to another man, who had gone to John's aid and was still in the function room. Again they attacked as a mob and he was punched, kicked and repeatedly struck with the metal stanchion poles before again being dragged to safety by door staff.

Police were called and John was taken to hospital. He did not recover consciousness and died on Tuesday 27 December 2011 from his injuries.

An investigation was launched and a forensic examination of the club was undertaken. The knife was recovered inside the club and CCTV seized.

Officers have spent around 5000 hours viewing CCTV footage inside the club and at other locations.

The men were identified and in March 2012, search warrants were executed at addresses in Moss Side, Fallowfield, Moston, Davyhulme, Urmston, Newton Heath, Blackley, Harpurhey, Beswick, Bolton and Hyde in a police operation that involved 350 officers.

Detective Chief Inspector Pete Jackson from the Major Incident Team said: "My thoughts are with John's family. He lost his life as a result of a mindless and vicious attack by a gang of men with no respect for human life.

“John had been looking forward to spending Christmas Day with his family and the actions of these men stopped that from happening. They have left two young children without a father and for what? All because he accidentally bumped into one of them in a club, after they had gate crashed the event.

“They are violent and cowardly men who only engage in violence when they have numbers on their side and it was blatantly obvious they were up for trouble from the start.

“We do not want these kind of people out and about at night putting fear into people out enjoying themselves and socialising. Greater Manchester is a lot safer place now that they are all behind bars".