Son Shopped By His Own Mum Jailed

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4:00pm UK, Friday November 07, 2008
The mother who shopped her teenage son to police after he confessed to killing someone has wept in court as he was jailed for four years.

Terence Gaskin, 19, punched father Kenneth Turnbull in an unprovoked attack which caused a fatal brain haemorrhage.

The teenager, who was drunk when he carried out the attack, then confessed to his mother, who alerted the police. He then handed himself in.

Gaskin, who was sentenced for manslaughter at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing, blew a kiss to his weeping mother as he was led away.

The teenager, who had already been convicted of two other assaults, felled his 51-year-old victim with one punch on August 11 outside the White Lion pub in Darwen, Lancashire.

The father-of-four, who had been walking home from an Indian restaurant, was found unconscious by police and pronounced dead.

A post mortem revealed he had suffered a brain haemorrhage and initially police did not treat his death as suspicious.

However, the day after the attack the teenager confessed to his mother he had killed somebody and she rang the police.

CCTV footage showed Gaskin punching Mr Turnbull and later pretending to be a concerned bystander when police arrived.

Gaskin's mother Wendy Hutchinson said later: "I had to do what was right. It was a very tough thing to do but I had to phone the police.

"Terence told me what happened and he said it was an accident.

"It was an accident - one punch."

Mr Turnbull's wife, Anita, his sons Mark, Andrew and Oliver, and other relatives wept as the court was told they "can't come to terms with the manner of his death".

Prosecutor Frances McEntee said: "Mrs Turnbull and Mr Turnbull's children have been irrevocably damaged by this loss.

"The heart of her family has been ripped out."

Sentencing, judge Anthony Russell, QC, said: "This was utterly unprovoked, completely inexcusable violence.

"Your actions were those of a coward, committing an unprovoked attack on a vulnerable person who you and your friends saw as elderly."

This is a very sad story....mainly for the victim who died and his family....

I feel no pity for the boy who killed him but I must say that I am sure that when he punched him he didnt mean to kill him.....

I feel his mother has done the right thing in telling the police so he gets his punishment and this shows she is a good person who couldnt live with what her son did to the man.....

Ambersuz wrote:This is a very sad story....mainly for the victim who died and his family....

I feel no pity for the boy who killed him but I must say that I am sure that when he punched him he didnt mean to kill him.....

I feel his mother has done the right thing in telling the police so he gets his punishment and this shows she is a good person who couldnt live with what her son did to the man.....

I agree Ambersuz..this lads mother has done a very decent thing..it must have been very hard for her to do.x

Ambersuz wrote:This is a very sad story....mainly for the victim who died and his family....

I feel no pity for the boy who killed him but I must say that I am sure that when he punched him he didnt mean to kill him.....

I feel his mother has done the right thing in telling the police so he gets his punishment and this shows she is a good person who couldnt live with what her son did to the man.....

I agree with that amber but she must feel alot of guilt now to her son too