A murderer who beat his flatmate to death has today, Wednesday 17 October 2018, been jailed for life and will serve a minimum of 15 years.
Vincent O’Kane (03/10/1972) of Florence Street, Eccles, was found guilty of the murder of 55-year-old Philip Edge at Manchester Crown Court, Crown Square.
Around 11.30pm on Sunday the 25 March 2018 Philip was at his home on Florence Street in Eccles with O’Kane, who he had known for a number of years.
An argument took place where O’Kane claimed that he punched Philip in the stomach a number of times in order to wind him. He then realised he may have seriously hurt Philip.
He then ran over to a friend’s address where he told them Philip was dead. The friends went over to the property and found Philip unresponsive on the sofa with a visible injury to his eye. They immediately called for an ambulance and began administrating CPR.
However, despite paramedic’s best efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
A post-mortem revealed Philip died from severe internal abdominal injuries caused by blunt force trauma at the hands of O’Kane.
When arrested, he tried to claim Philip had inflicted the injuries on himself but a jury found him guilty of his murder.
Senior Investigation Officer Duncan Thorpe, from GMP’s Major Incident Support Unit, said: “O’Kane is a bully who subjected a vulnerable man to a brutal attack which ultimately took his life.
“He then tried to lie to police and make out it was Philip who had inflicted the injuries on himself .
“Today O’Kane is where he belongs and I hope his conviction provides Philip’s family and friends with some closure.”
