Weymouth drug users killed man in bank card theft bid

Two drugs users who attacked a 75-year-old man in his home in a bid to obtain his bank card have been found guilty of manslaughter.

John Cornish died after being grabbed by the throat, beaten and prodded with a knife in Weymouth, Dorset, in September last year.

Hannah Day, 29, who had befriended Mr Cornish, and Aaron Brown, 39, were also convicted of attempted robbery.

The pair will be sentenced later at Winchester Crown Court.

Matthew Jewell QC, prosecuting, said Mr Cornish suffered 42 injuries including a fractured larynx.

"Both defendants were drugs users at the time which is no doubt why they wanted to steal from Mr Cornish," he said.

Police said Mr Cornish's death was caused either by the throat injury or by a cardiac arrest brought on by stress.

Day, of High East Street in Dorchester, had regularly manipulated the victim for money and obtained about £30,000 from him in three years, police said.

Mr Jewell said Brown, of Lennox Street in Weymouth, first met Day shortly before the attack in The Esplanade on 6 September.

The court heard Mr Cornish died during the afternoon and the pair then spent the night at the property before the body was found the next morning.

Both defendants accepted an attack took place but blamed each other, the jury was told.

The victim's daughter, Beverley Cornish, told the court Day had "taken advantage" of her "very, very lonely" father.

"He felt pressurised to give her money. He said he was fearful of opening the door and felt like a prisoner in his own home," she said.

Day pleaded guilty during the trial to a charge of theft of a bank card and five counts of fraud.

Det Ch Insp Rich Dixey said: "While we may never know which defendant was the main aggressor, they acted together and must both bear a share of the responsibility."