Telford boy Jimmy Owens detained for cricket bat murder

A boy who murdered a man with a cricket bat has been given a life sentence, and ordered to serve a minimum of 10 years.

Sixteen-year-old Jimmy Owens crept up behind Derek Whyteside, who was searching for his partner’s children’s stolen bikes in Malinslee, Telford.

Mr Whyteside, 42, suffered a fractured skull and died two days after the attack in June.

Judge Paul Glenn said Owens had “emerged from the bushes and struck him from behind with the bat”.

Mr Whyteside “had no chance to take evasive action,” the judge said at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

As he fell to the ground in Withywood Drive, the victim was attacked by two men, the offender’s father, 41-year-old William Owens and uncle, 39-year-old Gareth Edward Owens.

The pair, both of Boulton Grange, admitted a charge of affray at an earlier hearing. The judge called their actions “outrageous” and lifted an order preventing the naming of the teenager.

Photos taken of the victim after the attack were also condemned as “despicable”.

Mr Whyteside’s partner Michelle Beddall said she was in a “living hell”, and that the Owens family had “acted like animals”.

“I hate what they have done to me and my kids” she said.