A FATHER-OF-THREE died after being involved in a fight on Father’s Day over alleged bullying.
Shaun Ian Mason, 42, hit his head accidentally as he grappled with Lee Swann on June 18, hours after emergency services were called to a fight involving a group of men and women at a house on Manor Court, Genn Lane, Ward Green.
An inquest was told Mr Mason, also from Genn Lane, had been involved in an argument over alleged bullying involving younger members of the two men’s families.
Speaking at last Friday’s inquest, Mr Swann said he had been staying at the home of his girlfriend Georgina Burkinshaw on Manor Court and the couple were in bed when they heard someone knock on the door at about 10.30pm.
When he opened the door he said he was confronted by a young man and his mum, about a bullying issue involving Mr Swann’s niece and her daughter.
They were joined by others on the driveway including Shaun Mason and his partner Donna.
Mr Swann said: “I rang my mum for her help trying to defuse it because they just weren’t listening. My mum came and no sooner was she going up the driveway than the two females set on her.
“I tried to restrain them and it resulted in Mr Mason, once I had moved one of them, in throwing a punch at me. It connected on my top lip. It happened really fast. Once I’d took the punch I reciprocated and punched back and that connected on the left side of his face.
“Then we went into almost a grapple and we were just tussling, which resulted in me pushing him off me. He fell backwards and hit his head on the floor.”
Mr Swann said it was a ‘chaotic’ situation.
The inquest was told that Mr Swann’s uncle Robert Scott, who was out on licence from prison at the time of the incident and living nearby, was drawn by the sound of the fighting and was sitting at a boundary wall close to the end of the driveway during the incident.
He was arrested and sent to finish his sentence following it as he had broken the terms of his licence, one of which was not to go on Genn Lane.
DC Dave Nixon said Mr Scott denied being involved in the physical altercation.
He said the case had been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service but no charges were made against Mr Scott or Mr Swann.
“The CPS had gone over the evidence and it pointed to self defence which we couldn’t rebut.
“Independent witnesses witnessed both Shaun and Lee fighting and couldn’t say who started it but described them both fighting in the front garden. One said he just saw Shaun fall back and another said he saw the push.
“The witness accounts are quite inconsistent so it is very hard to say exactly what happened.”
Forensic pathologist Dr Philip Lumb said the cause of death was a head injury.
Mr Mason’s father Eddie said: “Shaun wasn’t a fighter, not by any means. He didn’t go there to cause problems, he went to make sure Donna was okay and got pulled into it.
“Not for one minute would he ever have anticipated anything like this happening. He was a hard-working familiy man who never hurt anyone with three lovely children, one to his first partner and two to Donna, and he worshipped them.
“He was a mechanic and driver but he had done all sorts. He wasn’t very academic but with his hands, he could do what he wanted. He didn’t deserve this.”
Assistant coroner Tanyka Rawden said: “I am satisfied he died as a result of a head injury, as a result of being pushed backwards by Mr Swann. But I do find that was accidental. It is not my place to find intent or otherwise.
“But I do genuinely think he was pushed away to get him off, not to cause harm and it had absolutely devastating consequences which nobody could have foreseen.”
