Man jailed for life after murder of ‘loving father'

A COURT erupted in screams of ‘rot in hell’, ‘rat’ and ‘you f***ing freak’ as John Belfield was jailed for life for the murder of Thomas Campbell.

- BY AMY WALKER

Belfield, 31, recruited a team to help him kill Mr Campbell after he began a relationship with Demi-Lee Driver, his killer's ex-partner. Belfield was one of three men who lay in wait as Mr Campbell arrived home late on July 2, 2022.

Manchester Crown Court heard the killing followed a week of hostile surveillance carried out on 38-year-old Mr Campbell by Belfield and his conspirators.

When they struck, Mr Campbell could be heard to scream as the trio attacked and subdued him on his front drive, before bundling him inside the house on Riverside in Mossley, Tameside.

Over two hours he was stabbed, strangled and had hot liquid poured on his genitals. Prosecutors said he was ‘tortured to death, having suffered 61 separate injuries.

A huge murder investigation was launched, which revealed that Mr Campbell's ex-wife had been in on the plot. Coleen Campbell had fed her former spouse’s killers vital information about his whereabouts.