Two drivers who admit manslaughter after a man died in a water-filled drain would have joined the beating of another driver if it was necessary, a court heard on Friday (16).
Sean Burlton, 28, drowned after the car he was a passenger in left the road and entered a ditch on Counter Drain Drove, in Tongue End, on November 24, 2023.
A court heard Burlton was in a Ford Focus that had tried to ram a VW Touran being driven by his new girlfriend’s ex-partner, Richard McMullon.
Jurors were played a 999 call made by Mr McMullon as he was followed down Counter Drove Drain by the Focus and a Vauxhall Insignia.
Bailey Fitzgerald, 30, of Brownlow Crescent, Pinchbeck, who was driving the Ford Focus, and Sam Johnson, 27, of Johnson Avenue, Spalding, who was driving the Vauxhall Insignia, have both pleaded guilty to manslaughter in relation to Burlton’s death.
Both men also admit a second charge of conspiring with Burlton to commit actual bodily harm to Mr McMullon between November 22 and 25, 2023.
Sentence on Fitzgerald and Johnson was adjourned for the prosecution to consider a basis of plea submitted by the two men detailing their roles in the conspiracy and unlawful killing of Burlton.
A hearing at Lincoln Crown Court was told both men accepted they would have joined the beating of Mr McMullon if he had got the better of Burlton.
Gordon Aspden KC indicated that basis of plea was acceptable to the prosecution and asked Judge Simon Hirst to adjourn the case for sentence.
Four other men have pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and will be sentenced alongside Fitzgerald and Johnson at Lincoln Crown Court on November 27.
They are Max Prior, 22, of London Road, Spalding, who was a passenger in the Ford Focus, and Sam Clift, 36, of Brownlow Crescent, Pinchbeck, Josh Copnell, 23, of Rose Lane, Pinchbeck, and Scott Biggs, 34, of Spalding Common, Spalding, who were passengers in the Vauxhall Insignia.
Burlton’s then girlfriend, Vanessa Gratton, was cleared of any involvement in the conspiracy after a three week trial.
Jurors heard there was an ongoing battle between Gratton, 32, of West Parade, Spalding, and her ex-partner, Mr McMullon, over custody visits.
Prosecutors alleged Mr McMullon was followed by the Focus and Insignia after he left a contact visit centre in Spalding at around 3pm on November 24, 2023.
