Love my dog but bl**dy hell....

Baseball bat blow struck friend dead

South London Press


A TEENAGER who killed his friend with a blow from a baseball bat after the victim sat in his dog's favourite chair faces jail.

Stefan Muir, 18, threatened to set Cleo the Staffordshire bull terrier on Ashley Bridgeman, also 18, as they watched TV.

But when Mr Bridgeman claimed he would kick the family pet if he was attacked, the pair started a violent row.

Muir then ran for his wooden baseball bat and smashed it into the side of the victim's head, fracturing his skull.

Mr Bridgeman died in hospital the next day, April 23.

Muir was put on trial for murder at the Old Bailey, but yesterday the Crown accepted his plea of manslaughter.

Prosecutor Jeffrey Pegden QC told the jury: "We accept he did not have an intention to cause really serious injury when he delivered the single blow."

The jury heard how the teenagers had been playing football outside Muir's mother's home in Vermont Road, Wandsworth, at 3pm on April 22.

They went inside to watch television but Mr Bridgeman sat in the dog's favourite chair.

Muir then told the dog: "Shake it", and pointed at the victim.

Mr Pegden said: 'The deceased warned Muir that if the dog bit him then he would hit the dog.

"From there the argument escalated. They confronted each other face to face."

After a violent struggle, Muir went to the kitchen and came back with a wooden baseball bat.

A teenage witness later told police how Muir swung the bat downwards from above his head "with some force".

"The deceased went to the floor vomiting, with blood coming from his mouth," said Mr Pegden.

"There was evidence of a significant impact on the left side of the head with a circular 5.5cm depressed fracture to the skull.'

Muir, of Leafy Way, Addiscombe, Surrey, was cleared of murder on the judge's direction.

He will be sentenced for manslaughter on January 13.

OMG how dreadful I wonder if they they were drunk!

OMG thats the road my boss use to live down, its only 30 mins away from me

The guy that commited the crime lives about a 15 minute drive from where I live

OMG!!!

OH MY GOD!!!

Thats terrible!

OMG!!! That's awful