UK: 2 sentenced to life for assaulting 23-yr-old with learning disorder

Leicester: The Leicester Crown Court in England, UK, on Tuesday handed a life sentence to two men, accused of hanging a 23-year-old man from a tree before thrashing him brutally and throwing him into a pond. The victim, with learning disabilities succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.

Joshua Hack, 21, and Keith Lowe, 22, faced charges of abuse and physical assault of 23-year-old Brendan Mason.

According to Metro, Hack and Lowe lured Mason to a nearby park last July under the pretext of spending some time with him.

They then hung him from a tree, taking turns to hit him. He was then stripped naked and thrown into a pond in the park.

The victim, unconscious and bleeding, was found by the groundsmen and was airlifted to the hospital. He was found to have 99 separate injuries to his head and body, including brain damage, five broken ribs and a collapsed lung, and he died later that day.

Though Hack admitted to the murder, Lowe denied the charges and tried to conceal evidence. But when prosecutors played a video of Lowe repeatedly punching and laughing at Mason, he changed his plea half way through his trial at the court.

The duo were later caught on CCTV walking into McDonald’s restaurant after the attack in the middle of the night.

Prosecutor Miranda Moore was quoted as saying that the attackers accused Brendan of being a paedophile and 'nothing could be further from the truth'.

The court heard that the attack had been planned the night before after Hack and Lowe misinterpreted Mason's behaviour towards a girl at a party.

She added that police recovered a ‘trophy’ picture of ‘Lowe standing behind the naked and beaten Brendan, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor’.

Meanwhile, Hack's lawyer claimed that his client had autism and was ‘pathetically immature’.

The judge noted that Hack had lied to the police and even went with friends to lay flowers at the scene where Mason’s body was found. He also took cognisance of the fact that Lowe had bleached his bloodstained trousers, washed his hooded top and hidden his blood-spattered shoes in a bid to cover his tracks.

Handing the sentence, he said, “I find that each of you were equally involved and responsible for what was a joint attack. I’m satisfied you made the recording for your own gratification and took a number of trophy photographs.”