A teenager has been convicted of killing a man with a single punch in his third random attack in a week.
Eden Lomax, 17, punched Simon Mitchell, 43, on a Bolton street with such force that it fractured his jaw and sent Mitchell falling “like the minute hand moving from 12 o’clock to three” according to an eyewitness. As he fell, Mitchell hit his head on the pavement, with paramedics pronouncing him dead on the scene from his head injuries.
Mitchell had been talking to a group of Lomax’s friends on the evening of his murder, before Lomax became aggressive and had to be restrained by his friends. Mitchell went to shake Lomax’s hand, and that is when Lomax struck him.
This was the third such unprovoked attack by Lomax in the space of a week, with the two previous attacks both caught on CCTV in the video above. The first was on 7th June, when Lomax punched a 31-year-old man with learning difficulties as he stood at a bus stop, and the second on 11th June when he punched a 41-year-old man when they began talking. He had already pleaded guilty to these assaults.
Lomax was found guilty of the murder of Simon Mitchell at Manchester Crown Court, after the jury did not believe his claims of self-defence, with sentencing sue on 9th December. Lomax will face a mandatory life sentence for his crime.
Describing Lomax, Detective Chief Inspector Pete Jackson, of the Major Incident Team, said:
“Like all cowards and bullies he targeted people who he knew could not defend themselves or fight back.”