A man who brutally beat another man to death in a pub toilet has been jailed for life.
Derek Bentham (15/09/1972) of Smithwood Avenue, Hindley has today, Tuesday 12 March 2019, been sentenced at Bolton Crown Court, Crown Square to life imprisonment after being found guilty of the murder of Lee Christy.
He will serve a minimum of 13 years before being considered for release.
On Saturday 15 September 2018, 45-year-old Lee Christy was drinking with a close friend in the Bears Paw pub on Market Street in Hindley when he went into the toilet.
Bentham – who was also in the pub drinking with his girlfriend – followed him in a short time later and began his premeditated attack.
He assaulted Lee from behind, knocking him to the ground, before climbing on top of him and repeatedly punching him in the face. Not content with the damage his punches were inflicting, Bentham grabbed his victim and started head-butting him.
Eventually he climbed off Mr Christy and began to walk away before turning back and kicking him one last time as he lay on the ground.
Bentham then walked out of the toilets and left the pub with his girlfriend.
Despite being so seriously injured that he had to be carried out of the toilets, Lee managed to make it home to his flat across the road before an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital.
Three days later he passed away, with a Home Office Post Mortem confirming his cause of death as an abdominal haemorrage due to rupture of the spleen as a result of blunt force trauma. He also suffered a broken neck during the assault.
Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Inspector Andy Butterworth, of GMP’s Major Incident Team, said: “The only appropriate word to describe Derek Bentham’s actions the night he killed Lee Christy is brutal.
“He watched him go to the toilet before following behind with the intention of causing nothing less than serious harm to Lee. What followed would be a horrifically violent premeditated attack that left Mr Christy bleeding and dying on a pub toilet floor.
“A life sentence is exactly what Bentham deserves and, although it won’t bring him back, I hope Lee’s loved ones will feel a sense that justice has been served.”
