Ns News Online Desk: A British dad was beaten to death by a group of teens — one wielding a cricket bat — when he confronted them about stealing a pair of bikes belonging to his girlfriend’s kids, according to reports.
Derek Whyteside, 42, was attacked in the street less than a mile from his home in Shropshire on Monday afternoon and was rushed to the hospital with a fractured skull, the Telegraph UK reported. He was placed in an induced coma but died later of his head injuries.
“Someone thought it would be OK to wrap a cricket bat round his head while he’s dying on the floor,” his partner, Michelle Adie Wilson, wrote on Facebook. “He’s been jumped and punched in the face.” Hours earlier, she’d posted about two boys who had stolen a black and gray boy’s bike and a pink and black girl’s bike from outside her house.
Neighbors told the Telegraph and the Daily Mail that Whyteside approached the teens to get the bikes back, and was attacked. “It’s absolutely horrifying to think he was killed over something like this. No one deserves to be left to die in the street,” an unnamed neighbor said.
Williams later posted that her “world came crashing down around [her] when she was told Whyteside was dead. “He had a heart of gold, he did everything for me and my children,” she wrote.
The dad of four loved his girlfriend’s children like his own, his family said in a statement. “He was a fab dad to his partner’s children, very protective, cheeky and loving and always meant well. He was Michelle’s world and was so good to her. He was a great brother too,” the family said.
A 16-year-old boy, who could not be named because he is a minor, has been charged with murder in the case, the BBC reported. Two men arrested in connection with the incident were released on bail, and a woman and two other teens were released under investigation.
