A drug dealer who took part in an horrific gang attack to steal a Rolex watch from a dad has been jailed.
Jordan Short, of Rushey Hey Road, Kirkby, was 19 when he took part in the killing of joiner Steven McMyler, a 34-year-old father of two young children, in the grounds of Wigan Parish Church on August 6, 2020.
Now 21, Short was today, Tuesday, December 13, jailed for 13 years for his part in the crime. Four others were sentenced last year but, at the time, Short was considered too ill to take part in the trial of his co-defendants after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
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On the day he was killed, Mr McMyler had been to Goldsmiths' jewellers in Wigan to get an updated valuation for his Rolex Submariner watch, which had previously been valued at £11,500, prosecutor Mark Ford KC told Manchester Crown Court.
Later he went to The Raven pub in the Wallgate area of Wigan where he got talking to a Bolton man, Lewis Peake, who took a shine to the gold timepiece after Mr McMyler told him of its likely worth, the court was told. Peake plotted to rob the watch and was captured on CCTV chatting to two teenagers who he tried in vain to recruit as part of his robbery plan.
Peake persisted and, with others, 'surrounded' Mr McMyler in the grounds of Wigan Parish Church. The MEN reports, Mark Ford KC said: "During the course of the attack Mr McMyler was kicked forcefully to the head. He was rendered unconscious immediately. His watch was removed."
During the attack, the gang reportedly reacted by "grinning and laughing." With the victim unconscious on the ground, the gang then "turned on" Peake who fled after he was struck with a bottle.
Passing members of the public administered first aid but Mr McMyler, who went into respiratory and cardiac arrest, died at the scene. The prosecution at last year's trial of his co-defendants told the jury it was Short who delivered the kick to the head of Mr McMyler.
In November last year Peake, 30, of James Street, Little Lever, was sentenced to 13 years in prison, while Michael Wilson, 20, of Northfield Close, Kirkby, was sentenced to nine years' detention. A 17-year-old was sent to a young offenders' institution for eight years, while the 14-year-old was handed six years in custody. As youths, they cannot be named in press reports.
The judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, told Short: "As the CCTV so graphically shows, it was a brutal and sickening attack on a vulnerable man who did absolutely nothing what-so-ever to justify what happened to him. No-one in court could have failed to be moved by the victim personal statements read out. They spoke of utter devastation and excruciating on-going agony that your heartless joint actions with others caused Steven McMyler's family, ripping out from their lives the much-loved father of two daughters."
The judge went on that Short would be sentenced on the basis the defendant was part of a "joint enterprise to rob" with others as there had been "no admissible evidence" as to who had kicked the victim.
Short was jailed for 13 years and six months years after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and conspiracy to rob as well as four counts of supplying class A drugs, handling stolen goods, aggravated vehicle taking and three counts of fraud. He will be eligible for parole two-thirds of the way through his sentence. He was also handed an extended three year licence period.
Moments after he was sentenced, a member of the McMyler family left the public gallery from which there was no view of the dock to go into the courtroom to shout 'f***ing rat!' at Short. He was ordered to leave the court. Carole McMyler apologised to court staff.
Outside court, Mrs McMyler told the M.E.N. her opinion of Short was "too explicit" to mention. She added: "It's not the sentence we hoped for but then no sentence would ever be enough for what they've done. It was a needless act, greed."
Mrs McMyler went on: "It will always be murder to me."
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