Mark Bartholomew of Gloucester Street, Barrow has today been sentenced to life – with a minimum term of 24 years – for the murder of Andrew Hackett.
Bartholomew was convicted on Friday (31 Aug) following a trial.
Mr Hackett died after being stabbed once in the chest by Mark Bartholomew, at Bartholomew’s home address in Gloucester Street, Barrow in the early hours of 10 December 2017.
Bartholomew was arrested and charged with murder but had refused to answer any questions about had occurred that night.
However, police investigations established that Bartholomew and Mr Hackett had been at the address in Gloucester Street in Barrow the night of the murder. Also in attendance was Lee Black, 39, also of Gloucester Street.
The three men were associates who knew each other through the use of illegal drugs.
At around 2.30am, witnesses recalled hearing a heated argument coming from the address and a male voice shouting words to the effect of “look what you’ve done”.
The emergency services were not called until after 6am when Black called for ambulance reporting a man not breathing.
Mr Hackett’s body was in the street and he was found with a deep stab wound to his chest.
Bartholomew was arrested on suspicion of murder but refused to answer questions from detectives regarding his actions that night.
Black was charged with assisting an offender after officers found evidence that the body had been moved from inside of the house to outside and extensive efforts had been made to clean up the scene of the murder.
In his interview, Black admitted assisting Bartholomew in cleaning but denied he had done so to cover up evidence.
However, he was convicted of assisting an offender following the trial.
In sentencing Bartholomew, His Honour Judge Brown described him as an extremely dangerous individual with a short fuse who was manipulative and controlling and had a propensity to use violence.
The Judge said Bartholomew had pre-armed himself in the course of his criminal activities and was satisfied there was an intent to kill. He added that Bartholomew had used considerable force to inflict the injuries, then dragged the body out of the house into the back street in a callous act.
