`DRINKER KICKED TO DEATH IN PARK'

A FORMER Huddersfield man was kicked and beaten to death in a revenge attack.

A 15-year-old girl and two friends punched and kicked Nathan Crawley to death in a "murderous attack" in a seaside town after he tried to grope her, a court heard.

Mr Crawley, 29, was found beaten unconscious in a park in Hornsea, East Yorkshire, in the early hours of Friday, July 28, last year. He was pronounced dead in hospital from bleeding within his skull.

Lee Alan Mark Richmond, 20, of Newbegin, Hornsea, his cousin Ryan Alan Ashton, 18, of Westbourne Road, Hornsea, and a schoolgirl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all deny murder at Hull Crown Court.

Nathan Crawley grew up in Huddersfield and moved to the East Yorkshire seaside resort with his parents Derek and Sheila five years ago.

The rest of his family, including his brother and two sisters, remained in Huddersfield.

The Crawley family were well-known members of the community when they lived in Leeds Road, Bradley.

Nathan attended Bradley Infant and Junior School, Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic School in Brackenhall, and All Saints Catholic High School in Bradley.

He went to Huddersfield Technical College for a brief period.

He later worked as a trainee chief at a number of venues, including The George Hotel.

He loved playing sport, especially football.

Before he moved to Hornsea, he worked for TJ Pallets in Linthwaite.

The court heard the girl told police they were all drinking in the park when Mr Crawley started touching her and would not let go. She said he was trying to pull her trousers down and drag her to the edge of the park.

She originally said Ashton and Richmond then started "doing all the s**t" but she did not join in.

But three months after the attack, the girl told her mother she had kicked Mr Crawley in the head when he was on the ground, the court heard. The girl then told police she saw Ashton kicking him and Richmond jumping on his head.

James Goss QC, prosecuting, said the three defendants were drinking with the victim and other friends in Hallgarth Park on the evening before the attack.

"In common with many cases of this kind, drink had a large part to play in what happened," Mr Goss said.

Members of Mr Crawley's family cried in the public gallery as CCTV footage showed him and Richmond buying two boxes of Carlsberg lager at about 7.15pm on July 27.

Shortly before midnight, Ashton and Mr Crawley were involved in a scuffle in the park and, after a short time, Richmond joined in.

Mr Goss said witnesses heard Richmond shout something like: "Don't mess with my cousin, don't mess with my family."

Mr Crawley, of Salisbury Avenue, Hornsea, went to the ground where he was kicked and punched, Mr Goss said.

He suffered bruising to his head, face, body and legs and sustained four fractured ribs.

Mr Goss said: "We allege that this was a murderous attack."

He told the jury that Richmond later told a friend that he had "double jumped his head" during the attack and Ashton said he headbutted him when he was on the ground. Both were laughing nervously and said they were "in the s**t".

The jury of seven men and five women heard witnesses Peter and Jane Warner, who live near the park and called the police when they heard fighting, heard one man shout: "Come on Lee, let's leave him; you've done what you're going to do, you've given him a good kicking" and "let's leave him for dead."

Another witness Sally Rotherham, who also lives near the park, will tell the court she heard one male voice shouting: "I'm telling you he's dead mate, he's dead I'm telling you," to which another replied: "No, he's not, he'll get up and walk away a bit later on".

All three defendants walked into Hornsea police station at about 10am on the Friday morning.

Mr Goss said Ashton told his mother he punched and kicked Mr Crawley because he had exposed himself to a girl, "was a paedophile and had put a drug in her drink, but he didn't mean to kill him".

Ashton also told his father there had been trouble in the park "with a lad who was out of his head and had tried to grope" the girl.

The court heard there was no alcohol in either of the defendants' samples when they were tested on the Friday, but traces of nitrazepam, a hypnotic drug prescribed for insomnia which can enhance the intoxicating effects of alcohol, were found.

Mr Crawley's body contained a high level of alcohol - 260mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, compared with the 80mg drink-drive limit in the UK.