TWO MEN – one from Macclesfield – have admitted murdering a 60-year-old man who was found badly beaten at a flat in Blackpool.
Lea Mason and Stephen Kidd entered guilty pleas on the day they had been due to face trial at Preston Crown Court. They will now be sentenced on Friday.
Darren Presley, from Stoke-on-Trent and also known as John Bentley, was found in January at the flat where he had been living at Devonshire Road in the resort.
Kidd, 36, also of Devonshire Road, and Mason, 32, of Turnock Street, Macclesfield, pleaded guilty to murdering him between January 8 and 11 this year.
Judge Anthony Russell QC told them: "As you know, there is only one sentence for murder, but I have to determine the minimum term you should serve and I shall do that when I have heard everything put forward by the prosecution and on your behalf."
A third defendant, 19-year-old Kirsty Burdon, of Cookson Street, Blackpool, pleaded guilty to an offence of assisting an offender.
The charge involved her lying to police by supporting the account given to police by Stephen Kidd. The court heard that she has served around six months on remand – and during that time gave birth to her first child.
The judge told her: "Assisting an offender is a serious matter which calls for a sentence of imprisonment, but you have served already about six months – the equivalent of a 12 month sentence. That will be very much at the forefront of my mind when I pass sentence."
All three defendants were remanded in custody for sentencing on Friday.
