John Hackett: How park row over dog mess led to ‘much loved’ man beaten to death by teenage gang

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Detective Chief Inspector Collette O’Keefe, from the Warwickshire Police Major Investigation Unit, told The Independent the “haunting” footage of Mr Hackett pleading, surrounded by screaming and shouting, “will stay with me” as she issued a warning over young people’s social media use. “Rather than filming they should have been intervening and preventing what happened – perhaps John would have been here to tell the tale.” Instead, Mr Hackett limped home from Snowhill Recreation Ground on the evening of 25 April, with DCI O’Keefe describing him as the “walking wounded”. In a victim impact statement read to the court on Thursday, Mr Hackett’s mother Christine Smith said of the death of her son: “I wish to state that it has ruined my life and put me through hell.” Nine teenagers had watched on, some of whom filmed the violence, later sharing the footage on social media. open image in gallery Mr Hackett limped home from Snowhill Recreation Ground on the evening of 25 April, with DCI O’Keefe describing him as the ‘walking wounded’ “The level of violence shown by these offenders was truly shocking and Mr Hackett must have been terrified throughout,” DCI O’Keefe said.