We'll never forgive the drinking mate who killed our dad in boozy pub row over chicken wings
The grieving family of Army veteran Paul Ainscough say they will never forgive the drinking mate who took his life in a booze-fuelled row.
As Liam Slack began a four-year prison sentence this week for the manslaughter of the former Regimental Sergeant Major in the beer garden of a Leyland pub, relatives said they had been “destroyed as a family” by the drunken act which caused his death.
A judge was told the two men had been drinking all day when Slack pushed Mr Ainscough in an argument over a pack of chicken wings.
The ex-soldier fell onto a planter causing severe internal injuries. He was found unresponsive at his home in Hollinshead Street, Chorley 48 hours later.
Slack, 34, pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court saying he had not meant to seriously harm a man who had been his friend for many years.
In court a victim impact statement by son Mark Ainscough, on behalf of the family, described the victim as “our hero”.
He said: “Our world fell apart on June 24. The dynamics of our family changed for ever.
“My dad was taken away in the most cruel and violent way far too soon. Losing him destroyed us all as a family. He was a brave soldier, loving husband, father and grandfather.
“What he (Slack) did was unforgiveable.”
The statement, read out by prosecution barrister Neil Fryman, claimed that Slack had attacked Mr Ainscough “when he was off-guard”. He had “taken advantage of him when he was in his most vulnerable state.”
Jailing Slack, of Langton Brow, Eccleston, for a total of four years and two months, Judge Robert Altham, the Honorary Recorder of Preston, told him he had robbed the Ainscough family of a “kind, generous and thoughtful man who was well-regarded by all who knew him.”
The 57-year-old had served his country with distinction for 24 years and had then joined the police on leaving the Army. His life had been taken by “such a thoughtless act of violence”.
The court was told the two men had been out drinking together in a number of Leyland pubs on the afternoon of June 24 last year. They ended up in the Stag pub in Worden Lane.
Mr Ainscough would regularly lend Slack money when he was short and on that day he had received a request for £40 which he agreed to loan him.
Mr Fryman said he was always sympathetic to the plight of others and would try and help them out when he could.
When the two men reached the Stag at around 3pm they were seen on CCTV a number of times both inside and outside the pub.
Unfortunately the assault at around 7:30 pm which led to Mr Ainscough’s death was not captured on camera. But several witnesses told how the two men were drunk and had become involved in a row over a pack of chicken wings.
As Mr Ainsworth stood up Slack gave him a hefty two-handed push to the chest sending him tumbling back onto a planter in the beer garden. One said he had “sent him flying” causing him to fall heavily. Another said the shove had “knocked him clean over”.
The court was told Mr Ainscough managed to get back to his feet and apart from a small trickle of blood from his elbow, he showed no signs of serious injury.
At one point he was heard to say about Slack: “He can’t take his beer. You try to help some people but at some point you have to stop.”
The two men eventually went their separate ways, with Slack telling a number of people that he had pushed his mate over. Two sisters he shared a cab with to Chorley even recorded him on a mobile phone smiling and saying: “I’ve just sparked my mate out.”
The following day Mr Ainscough seemed fine according to his girlfriend. Slack messaged him apologising for what he had done.
But by the Monday morning Mr Ainscough was lying on the couch complaining of severe abdominal pains and asked his partner to call an ambulance. She thought he was just hungover and did not call 999, leaving him sleeping.
Later that day she returned to his house to find him unresponsive where she had left him. Paramedics called to the scene said he could have been dead for about two hours.
Mr Fryman said a post mortem examination discovered Mr Ainscough had three rib fractures and there had been a build-up of blood in his chest cavity.
Death was due to blunt force trauma to the chest. There had been a significant impact to the back right side of the chest.
Defence barrister Rachel Woods told the judge her client accepted he would be facing an immediate prison sentence.
She said: “Nothing I say on behalf of this man is meant in any way to undermine the immense sense of loss and grief that his actions have cause to his (Mr Ainscough’s) family.
“The level of remorse shown (by Slack) is genuine and it is heartfelt. It will remain with him for the rest of his days. He bears responsibility for taking another man’s life.
“From the moment he lost his temper and forcefully pushed him he immediately regretted his actions.
“He never for a moment imagined he had life-threatening injuries. He never appreciated he had sustained grave internal injuries. The following day he immediately apologised to him.
“He must (now) suffer the consequences. He has always accepted that his actions were unlawful and have caused the unfortunate death of Mr Ainscough
“There is nothing that could be said or done to him that could possibly make him feel any worse than he does. He has to live with that for the rest of his life that he has caused the death of a friend.”
Judge Altham told Slack: “Both of you were heavily intoxicated.” He added that he believed Slack’s expressions of remorse and regret were sincere.
He said the starting point for the offence was six years, but he added a further three months on top that due to the aggravating factor it had been committed while intoxicated.
But because Slack had pleaded guilty to the charge of manslaughter at the earliest stage he would reduce that by a third to four years two months, two-thirds of which he will serve in custody before being eligible to apply for parole.