TWO men and two teenage boys have been found guilty of manslaughter over the death of Steven McMyler.
The joiner, 34, was targeted as he sat on a bench within the grounds of Wigan parish church in the early evening of August 6 last year.
McMyler had been drinking in a nearby town centre pub with another man, Lewis Peake, 29, who decided to rob the expensive 18-carat Submariner watch he was wearing, it is claimed.
Peake first tried to persuade two youths outside The Raven pub to help him rob Mr McMyler, and was said to have promised £100 to assault him, a court heard last month.
All four were today found guilty of both manslaughter and conspiracy to rob jurors at Manchester Crown Court.
Shocked relatives of the defendants wept at the television screen as they watched the jury give its verdicts from a separate courtroom due to social distancing guidelines, Manchester Evening News reported.
McMyler had travelled from Wigan to London with the intention of flying to Thailand – but had later changed his mind and returned home on August 6, the court heard.
He had been drinking in Wigan town centre with Peake in the hours before his death.
Two schoolboy witnesses had earlier told the court that Peake had offered them £100 each to “batter” McMyler – but fled feeling scared.
Four males from Merseyside – Jordan Short, 20, Michael Wilson, 20 and two youths aged 14 and 17, then arrived at Wigan Wallgate train station at 7.12pm and seven minutes later walked up to the entrance of the church garden.
They were then approached Peake and asked to carry out the assault, prosecutors said.
One member of the group later turned on Peake and hit him over the head with a glass bottle.
The court heard Peake later returned to the attack scene as Mr McMyler lay unconscious "with his face purple", and did not check on him as he made off with his phone and suitcase.
The four defendants will be sentenced on June 11.
After giving its verdict, Judge Turner told the jury: “You have clearly concentrated on the evidence and over the period of the last few weeks you have discharged your duty.
"The sentence to be passed onto these defendants will wait until June 11, bearing in mind the age of two of the defendants, and the desire of Wilson to equip me with a report to help me decide on the appropriate sentencing."
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