Dean Hughes, 47, has been jailed for murder after he launched a ruthless attack on Shane Maloney, 28, inside a home in Manchester - before blaming his own girlfriend
A twisted killer hit a man over the head with a magnum-sized champagne bottle and then left his "barely conscious" victim for dead in an alleyway.
Dean Hughes, 47, has been slapped with a life sentence for the murder of Shane Maloney, 28, after he attacked his victim with "brutal ferocity" at a house in Leigh, Greater Manchester. The pair were not known to each other before the fatal incident. Mr Maloney sadly died 15 months after the attack, after he suffered "life-changing" brain injuries. The extent of his injuries were so bad that he was unable to walk and had no choice but to be fed by a tube.
Manchester Crown Court heard how Hughes ruthlessly whacked him on the head after they had an argument about a mobile phone in November 2019. Shortly after the attack, Hughes "dragged him outside" and dumped him around the back of the property on Wigan Road. The killer even tried to blame his girlfriend as a way of "being in some way responsible" for what he had done.
Hughes was put behind bars for eight years in 2021 after pleading guilty to wounding with intent. However, after Mr Maloney died, Hughes was charged with murder. He sickeningly claimed to have acted in lawful self-defence but a jury convicted him after a trial. The court heard how Hughes and his girlfriend were living at the house on Wigan Road and that Mr Maloney’s girlfriend was also living their at the time.
The trio were joined by Mr Maloney and they went out into Leigh and bought alcohol, which they drank as they socialised together. Hughes also took cocaine, methadone, and diazepam. There had been "no issues" between Hughes and Mr Maloney, but a row flared up over a mobile phone. Hughes had borrowed a phone belonging to Mr Maloney’s girlfriend, reports Manchester Evening News.
He had made some calls and refused to hand it back until they had been answered. Mr Maloney became "angry" as Hughes continued to refuse to give her phone back. A "fight" then broke out between them. A judge said he was ‘prepared to accept’ that Mr Maloney had ‘struck’ Hughes ‘possibly with a beer bottle’, and punched him causing injury.
But Judge John Potter said Hughes’ response was "disproportionate and clearly unlawful". Hughes grabbed an empty champagne bottle and hit him over the head with it. “You attacked Mr Maloney with brutal ferocity,” Judge Potter told Hughes. Mr Maloney fell to the floor and Hughes kicked and punched him as he lay defenceless. The force of the blow ‘shattered’ his skull and was ‘akin to him having been hit by a moving car’, the judge said. The attack lasted a ‘matter of moments’.
“At the end of it you realised Mr Maloney was barely conscious,” the judge continued. Hughes then "dragged him outside" and "dumped him in an alleyway at the back of the house". Mr Maloney’s girlfriend had called the police. As Mr Maloney lay prone, Hughes said: "Never underestimate a short-a**e. Payback's a bi***h.”
“I am sure from this evidence and other comments made by you at the scene, that the ferocity of your attack upon Mr Maloney was inspired by you feeling slighted by him in his initial actions to you at the start of the incident,” the judge told Hughes. “You decided to extract revenge, and did so for a terrible price.”
Hughes was arrested by attending officers. “At this point when you were asked for an initial account, you tried to blame others, namely your girlfriend and [Mr Maloney’s girlfriend] as being in some way responsible for what you had done.” Defending, Mohammed Nawaz KC said Hughes' attempt to deflect blame had been "short lived". Hughes gave inconsistent accounts of what happened in the aftermath, but pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and in June 2020 was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Mr Maloney was cared for at rehabilitation units and died in hospital in March 2021 after contracting an infection. Prosecutors re-opened the case and charged Hughes with murder. “It is quite clear that Mr Maloney’s passing has caused very great loss to all of his family,” the judge said. “The loss of any life in the circ*mstances such as here may be viewed as a terrible and avoidable waste of a life.”
The judge ruled that the starting point for the minimum term, the least amount of time Hughes will have to serve in jail before he can be considered for release by the Parole Board, was 15 years. After considering aggravating and mitigating factors, Judge Potter said the minimum term would be 16 years. He said that the minimum term had to be reduced to reflect the time Hughes had already spent in prison. He has been locked up since November 2019, in the aftermath of the attack. The final sentence imposed was a life sentence, with Hughes ordered to serve a minimum term of 11 years and seven months.
