THE three men charged with the murder of father-of-four Allan Curtis beat him to death for a dare, a court has heard. The vicious killing of the popular family man as he walked home from the pub last December sent shockwaves through the local community. This week a jury at Preston heard how Curtis and his friend Andrew Parker were subjected to "gratuitous and mindless violence" after one of the men dared another to attack as they walked through Skerton.

Mr Curtis, 41, was kicked an punched to the ground and was struck by several blows with an electric guitar which had been snatched off his friend.

He received fractures to his skull, nose and cheekbone and died later in hospital from a brain injury.

Andrew Lockley, 21, of Alderley Heights, Skerton, Peter Thomas, 21, of Anstable Road, Morecambe, and Darren Rae, 19, of the Kings Own Border Regiment, Catterick, all deny murdering Mr Curtis and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Parker.

Thomas has pleaded guilty to the theft of the electric guitar, but the charge is denied by Lockley and Rae.

Graham Morrow, QC, for the prosecution, told the court that attack happened on December 1 last year close to Skerton Bridge. Both men came from Barrow but were in Lancaster working for Seltec.

On the night of the murder Mr Parker, 34, had been playing his guitar at the Crown Pub and later left with Mr Curtis to return to his lodgings.

After crossing Skerton bridge, Mr Parker became aware of someone behind him.

Mr Morrow said: "As he turned round he was suddenly punched in the face and pushed to the ground. He was punched, kicked and stamped on and recalled three people there.

"Mr Parker cannot say what happened to Mr Curtis but we say he was punched, kicked, stamped on and hit with the electric guitar."

Mr Morrow told the jury: "They had done nothing wrong. They happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The three defendants were prepared to set upon Mr Curtis and Mr Parker for no reason at all and cause totally unnecessary harm. This was gratuitous and mindless violence with tragic and fatal consequences."

After the attack, Lockley left his two co-defendants and went home. Rae and Thomas went to the home of a friend, Jason Howard, of Aldrens Lane, and when Thomas arrived he was strumming Mr Parker's guitar.

Thomas allegedly told Mr Howard: "I dared Daz (Rae) to knock one of the lads on Mainway out. Andy (Lockley) got to the other one before me."

Mr Morrow said: "The attack was prompted by such a dare."

The next day Mr Howard visited his mother in intensive care at Lancaster Infirmary where, by co-incidence, Mr Curtis was in the next bed. After hearing about the attack he contacted the police and handed them the guitar which Thomas had asked him to look after.

A post mortem on Mr Curtis carried out by Dr Edmund Tapp revealed that the cause of death was a diffuse brain injury consistent with being caused by stamping and marks on the body may have been caused by the blows from the guitar.

The case continues

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.