Two guilty of Bilston murder

Two drunks who beat a man to death in Bilston before strolling off to play pool and eat fish and chips have been jailed for life.

Jason Talbot and Arthur Henry will spend at least 13 years behind bars for the murder of Peter White.

The thugs were drinking and playing pool in the Greyhound & Punchbowl pub less than 10 minutes after the unprovoked attack on Mr White as he sat on a park bench in Church Street.

A jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court took less than five hours to convict 35-year-old Talbot and 46-year-old Henry of murder.

Talbot, of Rocket Pool Drive, Bradley, and Henry, of Rosemary Avenue, The Lunt, killed 47-year-old Mr White on October 9 last year. The victim, an odd-job man, suffered a brain haemorrhage, broken bones and torn arteries in the beating, which started at 4.30pm and lasted for five minutes.

Mr White, of Bilston Road, also had the pattern from a pair of trainers imprinted on his face.

Judge John Warner today described the killing as an "eruption of violence" as he revealed the killers both had criminal records for burglary, violence and dishonesty.

The jury was shown harrowing CCTV footage of Talbot and Henry punching and kicking Mr White to death as pedestrians passed by unaware, just yards away near the town's bus station.

Jailing them, Judge Warner told the pair: "You punched and kicked Mr White to death and then just casually walked away and left him.

"You were totally without concern as to what had happened to him."

More in Tuesday's Express & Star.