‘Queer bashing’ brothers found guilty of 1984 civil servant murder | UK | News

Re-opening of a closed case

After new evidence emerged, a new investigation was launched in 2022 based on the evidence needed to continue the investigation.

Historical evidence, including post-mortem recordings, witness statements, train times and recordings of calls to emergency services, has been preserved and used together with new evidence to build the strongest possible case of what happened to Mr Littler on the night he was killed.

The case was featured in an episode of Crimewatch broadcast on the BBC in 1984, showing the location as it appeared at the time. Frames from the program were shown to the jury so they could see the scene as it was then.

fatal attack

Evidence dated 1 May 1984 showed that Mr Littler’s train arrived at the station on time at 12.18pm. The station foreman witnessed him leaving and wished him goodnight as he left for home.

Minutes later, a call to emergency services was made from a nearby phone booth. The caller said a man had been seriously injured near the station but did not give personal details or his exact location and immediately hung up. The call was stopped at 12.40 as there were no injured people in the immediate area.

Mr Littler’s body was found a short time later by a couple in a nearby alley. One of them stayed with him, while the other ran to call emergency services from a public phone booth. This call was made at 12.58am and a police officer arrived on the scene shortly afterwards.

The prosecution argued that the timing of the first call to 999 showed that the person who made it had been in the alley when Mr Littler was attacked and was keen to leave the area as quickly as possible. The evidence showed that it was Michael who made this call; a fact he later seemed to confirm by telling a co-worker, “I looked for the old invoice.”

Admissions spanning decades

Both brothers have made numerous admissions to partners over the years.

Very shortly after the attack, Michael told someone they had killed a man in an alley during a robbery gone wrong. Years later Anthony made a similar confession to the same person and was said to have burst into tears as he confessed that he and Michael were involved in Mr Littler’s murder.

This information, along with other confessions, was later passed to the police and a new investigation was launched in 2022, using a range of undercover techniques to capture further confessions.

Bad character evidence

Evidence of prior misconduct by the defendant is known as bad character evidence and is automatically inadmissible in court.

Colleagues also told police that at the time of the murder, Michael and Anthony would target men because of their sexuality, describing it in their words as “weird beatings”.

The Crown Prosecution Service took the view that there was a significant body of evidence to suggest that Mr Littler was not the victim of an isolated incident but one of a series of targeted attacks, with other attacks on lone males taking place in the area around the same time.

In this case, the similarities between the attack on Mr Littler and similar but non-fatal crimes committed in the same area, and the evidence of others who said Michael and Anthony were responsible, were too great to ignore.

Statements regarding other attacks on police at that time were read to the court.

The prosecution’s contention was that hostility towards the victim’s perceived sexuality was likely a motivating factor in the attack.

Proving murder and joint enterprise

To prove murder, the prosecution must gather evidence; so the jury can be sure that the defendant intended to kill or actually seriously injure the victim. If death results from an act intended to cause actual serious injury, this legally constitutes murder.

In cases where the case involves joint enterprise, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that each defendant played a role in the crime. Although only one brother dealt the fatal blow, the prosecution was that Michael and Anthony acted together with the common intention to cause serious harm.

witness evidence

Due to the time that has passed since Mr. Littler’s murder, many witnesses to the case have passed away. This meant that the prosecution had to rely on written statements taken from witnesses at the time of the murder.

Under current legislation, witness statements must be corroborated by a ‘statement of fact’ signed by the witness. This is the starting point for admitting evidence without subpoenaing the witness.

As the witnesses could not give evidence in court and therefore could not be challenged, their evidence had to be treated as hearsay evidence and the CPS successfully argued for their inclusion as part of the prosecution evidence.