Murdered security guard, 55, was chased & killed by gang in early morning attack
A SECURITY guard was murdered after being chased and beaten to death by a gang.
Christopher Molloy, 55, was attacked near a Burger King in Bootle Strand, Merseyside, on July 12 2022.
Three people including two brothers and a 15-year-old boy were put on trial for murder.
Jay Byrne, 26, of Southport and Joseph Byrne, 25, of Litherland were cleared of the charge by a majority of the jury yesterday.
But the teenager – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was unanimously convicted.
The three defendants had previously admitted to manslaughter and are set to be sentenced on March 16 2023.
Liverpool Crown Court heard how the fight broke out at around 12.45am when the 15-year-old defendant accused Mr Mallow of “touching” his girlfriend.
The court heard that Jay Byrne, punched or pushed Mr Malloy before fleeing the scene.
He ran to a nearby McDonald’s and asked for help from employees: “Because he was concerned as to what was happening,” the court heard.
Mr Malloy walked away from the Burger King but at this point he was chased by Joseph Byrne, and the then 14-year-old.
CCTV footage captured Joseph “landing an extremely forceful punch” which knocked the victim out.
The security guard fell backwards and “cracked his head on the pavement.”
The video showed how the teenage defendant then slapped him in the face eight times.
Joseph and the teen bumped fists as they walked away from the helpless Mr Malloy, shown on the CCTV tape.
But the teen was seen turning back to kick his victim in the head for a second time, described in court as a “particularly ferocious kick, like kicking a football hard”.
After a taxi driver called the police, emergency services rushed Mr Malloy to the Walton Centre and by 5am he underwent surgery.
It was discovered he had suffered internal bleeding and fractures.
His life support was ultimately withdrawn and he tragically passed away on July 19 2022, one week after the attack.
The Liverpool Echo reported that Joseph Byrne, on the stand, said he had given Mr Molloy: “a little slap to teach him a lesson” after he was told that he had been “grabbing the a***” of the teen’s girlfriend.
He also turned to the teen and said: “He done it and he knows he did,” before refusing to answer anymore questions.
The court heard the teenage defendant say he was pretending to be on a comedy film called Friday, where a character played by Christ Tucker said: “You got knocked the f*** out.”
He claimed Joseph had asked him: “Do you want to see a knockout punch?” Before the victim fell to the floor unconscious.
He also said: “I didn’t think. I was just copying what Jay did,” when he spoke of kicking Mr Malloy in the head while he was on the floor.
Jay Byrne chose not to give evidence at trial.