WATCH: Brian Darby - murderer used van as a 'deadly weapon'

The 60-year-old grandfather was dragged along the road for 150m after Breeze deliberately targeted a group of friends walking home from the pub.

Minutes earlier, his son Shaun Breeze, had called his father who raced through Ingleby Barwick in a drug-fuelled rage which ended in the fatal hit-and-run.

Mr Darby was pronounced dead at the scene while three others suffered serious injuries after the father and son ‘weaponised’ the van to seek revenge following an innocuous confrontation.

Jurors at Teesside Crown Court watched grainy CCTV footage of the clash between Shaun Breeze and the group of friends, moments after they left the 3 Rivers pub on February 9 this year.

Martin Breeze's badly damaged van (Image: Cleveland Police)

After Breeze Snr raced to the scene to pick up his son, the pair hunted down the friends as they made their way home.

Nick Dry, prosecuting, had told the jury that the pair used their van as a ‘deadly weapon’ as the ploughed through the group of friends.

He said: “CCTV footage reveals that he drove at speed from the nearby home he shared with his son whom he collected along the way, the pair of them with only one thing in mind – revenge.

“Soon coming across the group walking along Myton Way, whereupon having been identified by his son, Martin Breeze made a beeline for them.

“Leaving the carriageway, mounting a grass verge, ploughing across a cycle path before mowing them down on the pedestrian footpath.

“The defendants then returning to the road and making good their escape, the windscreen smashed owing to impacts with the victims, including Brian Darby, whose body was carried on the front of the vehicle before falling into the opposite carriageway as these two defendants sped away into the night.

“Mr Darby, meanwhile, died at the scene. He was 60 years old.”

Brian Darby

A woman among the group sustained life-threatening injuries while the teenager, and another man also suffered serious injuries that required hospital treatment.

Meanwhile the Breeze’s had returned the van to the road and fled the scene. They abandoned the heavily damaged van, arrived back at their home, and contacted the police to report the vehicle as stolen.

The faces of father and son killers, Martin and Shaun Breeze (Image: Cleveland Police)

Following his arrest Martin Breeze told officers he had been up all night, drinking alcohol and taking drugs and that his telephone had been in the van when it was stolen overnight.

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Shaun gave a similar account to his father, he stated he had only been out that night to sell his bicycle to a local cocaine dealer and didn’t know the van had been stolen until the morning.

The jury at Teesside Crown Court took less than four hours to convict Martin Breeze of murder, four counts of attempted murder and perverting the course of justice.

His son, Shaun, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter. He was also cleared of four charges of attempted murder but found guilty of four charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

They will be sentenced on Friday August 2.