Fusion
TK Veteran
Code:
[CENTER] A MAN has today spoken of the guilt he feels for innocently leading a popular former boxer to his death at a horror house party.
The 30-year-old man told the Mail that “never in a million years” did he believe tragic would come to any harm when he fatefully let him in the back door of the Hutton Avenue house, previously owned by his late grandmother.
It comes as police continue to question a 23-year-old man and a man in his 20s, both from Hartlepool, on suspicion of murder. A 17-year-old man has been released without charge.
Detective Chief Inspector Anne-Marie Salwey, who is leading the investigation, said she could not speculate on the motive of the murder at this stage but said it was “key” to the inquiry.
The property is still sealed off by police, with uniformed officers guarding it from the front and the back while scenes of crime officers (SOCOs) combed the house for evidence.
Two SOCO vehicles were parked in the street throughout the day with the forensic experts continuing to walk in and out of the house wearing white suits, boots and face masks and carrying various bottles, plastic gloves and containers.
The devastated man, who did not wish to be named, said he was leaving his own home nearby, when Mark, his girlfriend and a male friend, got out of a taxi in Hutton Avenue and were asking where the party was taking place.
“I recognised one of them was Mark because he’d been at a party at my gran’s old house, and then back to mine and my brother’s house, on Christmas Day,” he said.
“I said, ‘the party’s not in this house mate it’s back down there’, and I walked them down and showed them in the back door. Him and his girlfriend and another lad.
“I let them in and then went off to one of my friend’s houses.
“He wasn’t even there five or 10 minutes by all accounts when he was assaulted with an axe. Apparently he didn’t stand a chance.
“I’m absolutely gutted and feel guilty that I led him there.
“Even though I could never have known what was going to happen. I couldn’t stop crying yesterday, but even the police said there’s nothing me or my brother could have done.”
He added: “I only knew Mark from the party on Christmas Day and I’d given him a cuddle. He seemed nice.
“On New Year’s Eve, the second time I’d seen him, he was dressed properly smart and looked like he was just going to have a good night.
“He was happy and talking about the party we’d had on Christmas Day, which we’d started at my gran’s because it’s empty at the minute and has been sold with the contracts due to be exchanged in a month.
“We got chased out because of the noise though so we carried it on up here at mine and my brother’s house. He was saying it was a good party and was looking forward to another one that night. I can’t get my head round what happened next after I’d shown him in.” [/CENTER]