Browse Sections

• Education
• Special reports

Man jailed for murdering life-long friend

24/ 5/2007

A MAN who savagely beat his life-long friend to death with a table leg in a park in Stockport has today (Thursday) been sentenced to life in prison at Manchester Crown Square.

Martin Jones (born 03/08/72) of no fixed abode pleaded guilty to the murder of 33-year-old John Fallows and was sentenced today. He has been ordered to serve at least 14 years and 322 days before he will be considered for parole.

His accomplice, Melanie Rigby (born 04/03/73) of Penny Lane in Lancashire Hill, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to six years in prison today.

John Fallows (born 17/11/73) of Lenham Towers, Brinnington, was found dead in Tiveot Dale in Stockport on Monday 23 October 2006 by a passerby. He had been beaten to death. John had known Jones and Rigby for most of his life. They had grown up together as teenagers in Stockport and they all spent a lot of time in each other's company.

Jones had married John's wife's sister and in 2006, Jones assaulted her. When John heard about this, he felt defensive for his sister-in-law and was extremely angry with Jones.

Realising he was wanted by police for the domestic abuse, Jones fled from Stockport for a while but came back and was temporarily living with Melanie Rigby in her flat on Penny Lane. At this point Jones began to hear rumours that John had been bad-mouthing him to mutual friends with regard to him beating up his wife and he wanted revenge.

On the night of Monday 23 October 2006, Rigby arranged to meet John Fallows in some woods at Tiveot Dale, a local park, to pay him money back that she owed him for cannabis. Rigby left her flat on a pedal bike at about 6.20pm that night, together with Jones who had armed himself with a 3-foot long table leg from inside Rigby's home.

The pair made their way to Tiveot Dale but on arrival, Rigby phoned John on his mobile and pretended she was too scared to go up into the woods by herself as it was getting dark, and asked him to come and meet her at the bottom of a hill instead. John agreed and cycled to meet Rigby.

At this stage, Jones hid in the bushes so that when John met up with Rigby, everything seemed normal and the friends had a chat. Jones then jumped out of the bushes and, strangely, Jones and John had a brief conversation, generally greeting each other and shaking hands. However, Jones then struck John across the head with the table leg with such force that he fell from his bike to the ground.

Rigby left the scene at this stage, cycling away and phoning first her husband, then police, to say that her friend had been assaulted. What followed at the scene in Tiveot Dale was a frenzied attack in which Jones beat Fallows with the weapon around the head, face, body and legs.

During the attack, a car drove by and Jones ran into the bushes and hid until it had passed. But even after this break, Jones went back to John Fallows, who was lying helpless on the floor, and stamped on his head, neck and face to make sure he was definitely dead.

And then even after all he had done, Jones searched John's pockets and stole his belongings from his dead body - including his mobile phone and wallet - before running to a nearby stream and throwing the table leg he had used as a weapon, and John's empty wallet away.

Covered in blood, Jones left Tiveot Dale and made his way back to Rigby's flat. But her husband was there and refused to let him in. So, he went to another's friend's house where he borrowed a change of clothes, hid his own clothes and trainers, and stayed the night, bragging about what he had done.

Acting on information given by an anonymous source, police arrested Jones the next day at his friend's flat. Officers recovered his blood-stained clothes. The woman he had stayed with received a caution for assisting an offender.

A post mortem examination concluded that John Fallows died from multiple head injuries. His injuries were so horrific that the photographs were deemed too graphic to show a jury as would often happen, and they had to be superimposed onto a 3D mannequin using specialist software instead.

Detective Chief Inspector Linda Reid from Stockport CID said: "In my thirty years of policing, rarely have I seen brutality on this scale. Jones was looking John in the face as he beat him and repeatedly struck him and stamped on him until he was sure he was dead, before stealing his belongings and fleeing the scene.

"Rigby lured John to his death. She may not have physically hurt John herself, but she certainly played an integral part in his death. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for John's mother and his partner to deal with what has happened, but I can only hope that seeing justice done today will help them in some way to move on."

In a victim impact statement put before the court, John Fallows's widow said: "John taught me how to love and care and was the only man who told me he loved me and meant it. Even though the trial will bring a degree of closure I will carry this for the rest of my life."

CLICK on the video below to see CCTV footage showing Jones and Rigby as they left Rigby's flat before the murder. Jones can be seen carrying the table leg used to murder John Fellows ...

Most recent 2 of 3 user comments