Drugged-up 'bullies' beat Middlesbrough man to death

Lee Hogg and Terry Dalton launched the vicious attack when a night of drinking and drug taking spiralled into the murder of Carlos Boyce following an argument about crack cocaine.

The pair were also found guilty of battering Joseph Spencer unconscious with a vodka bottle when he tried to stop them attacking his friend inside his Middlesbrough flat.

Hogg, who was described as a bully during the trial, took umbrage at Mr Spencer standing up to him when he tried to tell him what he could do in his own home.

Read next: Family describe how victim was idolised by son as two men are found guilty of murder

Teesside Crown Court heard how Dalton lured Mr Boyce into the hallway before the two men launched a savage attack on the 36-year-old – punching, kicking and stamping, on their victim before hitting him with a piece of broken sink and hosing him down with scalding water.

Carlos Boyce with his son Jaden (Image: Contributor)

They then attacked Mr Spencer, pinning him to floor and smashing a vodka bottle into his head before eventually leaving the flat on Homerton Road, on November 11, last year.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Howard Crowson described Hogg being in a ‘belligerent’ mood when he turned up to supply drugs to Mr Spencer’s home before the night descended into fatal violence.

Lee Hogg (Image: Contributor)

He said: “You both encouraged Mr Boyce into the hallway and there, and in the bathroom, he was subjected to a determined and persistent beating involving stamping, kicking, blows with a hoover pipe and a large piece of the broken sink pedestal.

“Carlos Boyce was left with dreadful head injuries, and if you had cared to check, he was still alive throughout your assault on him.

“As he lay still alive, you hosed him down with scalding water from the shower.”

Terry Dalton (Image: Contributor)

Read more:

• Thug threatened to kill his grandmother and cut her cat's head off
• Man who groomed and raped 15-year-old girl jailed after she 'bravely' reported attack
• Stephen Tompkinson cleared of inflicting grievous bodily harm in noise row

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Hogg, 38, of Lindisfarne Road, Ormesby, was jailed for a minimum of 21 years in custody while 53-year-old Dalton, of Ellerbeck Way, Ormesby, was told he would serve a minimum of 20 years, for the murder of Mr Boyce and for inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Spencer.

Judge Crowson added: “The attack was persisted with over a long period and it is known that Mr Boyce was alive for at least one to two hours after suffering the head injuries and alive while he was doused with scalding water.

“For much of the attack you were attacking a defenceless man, neither of you received any injury, a fact relied upon in your defence, but in truth reinforced the one-side nature of the beating.”