Ex-soldier guilty of beating man to death (From Western Telegraph)

Ex-soldier guilty of beating man to death

A JURY decided yesterday (Tuesday) that a Pembrokeshire man was guilty of murder.

Lee Sheehan, aged 34, was convicted of beating to death 47-year-old Nigel Davies.

He was still awaiting sentence at the time of going to press.

A jury at Swansea crown court had heard the prosecution claim that Sheehan, a former soldier and one time boxer, lost control and beat Mr Davies so badly his head swelled to twice its normal size. He died in Swansea's Morriston hospital 12 days later.

Sheehan, of The Close in Johnston, had admitted attacking Mr Davies in a bid to stop him telephoning the police to report Sheehan for attacking Andrew Coles just minutes earlier. But he denied intending to kill him.

He had told the jury: "I accept that I assaulted him and that it was unlawful. But I did not intend to do him serious harm."

Asked how he felt now, he had replied: "Terrible, it is on my mind every day."

His defence team had argued that Mr Davies died from an underlying illness and not from the beating, which happened outside the Palace cinema in Haverfordwest's Hill Street on October 19th.

Much of the case was taken up with medical evidence. Mr Davies was treated at Withybush Hospital after the attack, because a bed was unavailable at the specialist head injuries unit at Swansea.

He was not transferred until the day before he died. His condition deteriorated during the transfer and worsened once at Morriston.

Mr Davies died from multiple organ failure on November 1st.

The prosecution had countered by telling the jury the attack did not have to be the only cause of death, only a 'significant factor'.