13 years for killing with 'unspeakable violence'

STATEMENT FROM VICTIM'S FATHER SAYS FAMILY LEFT 'HEARTBROKEN AND TOTALLY BROKEN' BY HORRIFIC ATTACK

- By DAVID POWELL Daily Post Reporter [e-mail]

A MAN who punched and killed a dad with "unspeakable violence" has been sentenced to 13 years in jail. Thomas Iveson, from Wrexham, repeatedly punched Craig Joseph Richardson in a flat in the Plas Madoc area of Acrefair with such force his jaw bone was left floating in his face.

Iveson launched the attack after he was assaulted by Mr Richardson on February 23 this year but the response was "out of all proportion".

On November 7 a jury found Iveson, 30, of Llyndir Lane, Burton, Rossett, unanimously guilty of the manslaughter of Mr Richardson, 37, after clearing him of murder.

Yesterday, at a sentencing hearing in Mold Crown Court, Craig's dad Brian Richardson said his son had been subjected to "unspeakable violence". When they saw their son in the mortuary at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Brian said: "We kissed him and promised him no-one would ever hurt him again."

The jury had heard Iveson punched his victim two or three times in the victim's flat. Prosecutor Michael Jones KC had alleged Iveson has a "short fuse".

The court heard Mr Richardson had taken "a gigantic amount of cocaine." But Mr Jones had claimed: "What he did was, we say, repeatedly and viciously caused fatal facial injuries which were wholly unnecessary and totally unjustified." Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers saw him at the flat lying on the edge of his bed with his feet on the floor. The facial fractures were like injuries after a high-speed car crash, he concluded.

Iveson showed no emotion as the judge The Honourable Mrs Justice Eady jailed him for nine years. He was also sentenced to an extended licence period of four years whenever he is released, making a total sentence of 13 years.