Sporting an angry bloodshot eye and deep scratches and bruises on his head, this is the extraordinary custody photo of a killer who followed his victim home after an argument at a pub.
Kevin Horswill, 51, was heard shouting ‘You’re a dead man’ at Richard Langley after the altercation last year.
CCTV showed him tracking Mr Langley to his home in Thaxted, Essex, later that evening where he throttled him with an item of clothing in his front garden.
Horswill claimed he had no idea how the 52-year-old died, insisting he had merely wanted to ‘remonstrate with him’ and ended up fighting for his own life after being attacked with a hammer.
But a jury didn’t fall for his version of events and convicted him of murder. The defendant, who will be sentenced tomorrow, showed no emotion as the verdict was read out.
Speaking afterwards, Detective Superintendent Ant Alcock, of Essex Police, said: ‘Horswill carried out a violent and premeditated attack, spurred on by an argument at a pub just hours before.
‘His argument of self-defence was completely undermined by the case built by our skilled investigators, which left the jury in no doubt he was guilty.’
The pair were both at The Star pub in Thaxted on March 17 last year when an altercation broke out between Mr Langley, the defendant and the defendant’s partner.
Witnesses hard Horswill scream ‘You’re a dead man’ before Mr Langley left.
CCTV showed him walking his dog in the village later that evening – with Horswill appearing minutes later taking the same route.
An audio recording made by a neighbour of Mr Langley caught pained noises from two people in his garden, with one desperately shouting ‘Get off me, get off me’, followed by silence.
Mr Langley, who was throttled with a piece of his own clothing, was found lying in the garden by his wife. Members of the public gave him CPR before paramedics arrived and tried to resuscitate him but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
CCTV showed bloodied and bruised Horswill leaving the address moments after the violent assault.
He was arrested at his home in the early hours of the following morning and was allowed hospital treatment before he was charged with murder and remanded in custody.
Opening the two-week trial, prosecutor Andrew Jackson told Chelmsford Crown Court that the murder was a ‘determined and premeditated attack’ and the defendant ‘allowed his anger to fester’.
But Horswill claimed he was ‘scared I was going to be killed’ after turning up at the house to give Mr Langley a piece of his mind.
Giving evidence, he said: ‘I was upset at the time but to say that I was angry – no. At the point things were happening in the pub, yes, I was angry.’
He claimed his victim pulled him onto his property and assaulted him with a hammer, leaving him ‘severely injured’.
‘I was being smashed around the head with a tool while trying to escape on all fours,’ he continued.
‘We obviously had a struggle because I was trying to pull him down to my level. I controlled him by using my arms across his chest.’
He accepted the ‘bearhug’ left Mr Langley unconscious but stressed it was ‘an act of self-defence’, adding he had ‘no idea’ how he died.
‘I accept that he was strangled somehow. I don’t accept it was me that strangled him,’ he said.
But Mr Jackson told jurors a Home Office pathologist had deemed it ‘implausible’ that Mr Langley had been strangled by accident as he suffered ’15 seconds of sustained compression’.
The defendant had ‘left him in the garden to die’, he added.
The jury took little more than six hours to convict Horswill by a majority of 11-1.
Det Supt Alcock added: ‘This case was only made so strong by the work of dozens of officers carrying out enquires, taking witness statement and gathering the forensic evidence to make a complete picture of the events of that evening.’