Barnsley mum issued "please don't kill him" plea to family accused of murdering her son
“I said ‘please don’t kill him, please don’t kill him’”
The leader of a family accused of murdering a Barnsley man told the victim’s mother “I’m going to kill your son” half an hour before allegedly running him over.
A trial is underway against three members of a Cudworth family accused of killing 45-year-old Liam Green in an incident on Rose Tree Avenue on April 3 this year.
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At Sheffield Crown Court on October 7, a jury heard how Liam’s mother, Lori Hilton, pleaded with the defendants to leave her son alone after they came to her house and told her they were out to “f***ing kill him”.
“I said, ‘please don’t kill him, please don’t kill him,’” said Mrs Hilton in a taped police interview played at court.
“And he [Mark Wigley] said, ‘I’m going to f***ing kill him, and if he goes to prison we’ll kill him in prison’.”
Liam had been knocking on doors asking elderly residents if he could mow their lawns for £7.50 - which angered Mark Wigley, 60, his daughter Sarah Wigley, 39, and his brother-in-law Neil Shaw, 54, all of Royston Road, Cudworth, after Liam knocked on the door of elderly Jean Wigley.
Jean shared a screenshot of Liam from her Ring doorbell to her family, with three members allegedly setting out to “teach him a lesson” for, as they saw it, “badgering old ladies for money”.
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Lori explained how Liam came to her house on Rose Tree Avenue that morning for a coffee, where he asked if it was a good idea to knock on doors asking for odd jobs.
She told police: “There was a man and a woman [Neil Shaw and Sarah Wigley], who said ‘we want Liam, he’s asking old women for money.’
“I said, ‘he’s only asking to cut grass, that’s all he’s doing’.”
Mrs Hilton left to go to Jean’s house to try and explain, when Mark Wigley reportedly pulled up alongside her in a white Volkswagen Touareg.
“He said, ‘do you know who I am?’,” said Mrs Hilton.
“I said ‘no’, and he said ‘I’m going to f***ing kill your son for what he’s done’.
“I said, ‘please don’t beat him up, please don’t kill him, I’m his mum,’ and he said ‘he’s f***ing dead, and if he goes to prison I’ll get somebody to kill him in prison’.
“He was so cocky,” wept Mrs Hilton.
The three family members are accused of tracking down Liam to Rose Tree Avenue, where Mark Wigley allegedly deliberately ran the 45-year-old over. He died at the scene.
Mrs Hilton described how she heard shouting outside her home, and when she emerged she saw Liam lying fatally injured underneath Mark Wigley’s white VW.
“I screamed, ‘you’ve f***ing killed him’,” said Mrs Hilton.
“I ran across the road.
“I held Liam’s hand.”
“He was only going around asking if he could cut grass,” said the widower.
Members of Liam’s family cried in the public gallery as they listened to Lori’s evidence.
The three defendants deny murder and manslaughter, claiming Liam’s death was an accident and they did not set out to cause serious harm.
The trial continues.