A MAN has been found guilty of killing a man he believed was chatting up his partner.

Daniel Griffiths, 43, of Stafford Street, Audlem repeatedly beat Andrew Guy with a baseball bat shortly after he sent his partner the text message 'on way babe, 10 mins'.

After the attack at Griffith's property in October 2021, his 54-year-old victim returned to his mother's home in Buerton.

He was in significant pain throughout the night and the following morning, Sunday, October 17, his body was found by his mother.

Yesterday (May 4), a jury found Griffiths guilty of manslaughter following a 15-day trial at Chester Crown Court. He is due to be sentenced at the same court on May 11.

On October 15 Andrew had travelled to his mother's home by train from Bournemouth where he had been living for around four months.

The next day he drove to meet friends in Market Drayton and Whitchurch, but received a text message and a call from Griffith's partner from a mobile phone allegedly used by both Griffiths and his partner.

Andrew arrived at the house on Stafford Street at around 7pm to bring them drugs and shortly afterwards a neighbour heard raised voices.

The court heard that Griffiths dragged Andrew outside and inside the property used a baseball bat to hit him in the stomach and leg. The blows to his leg left him with dented marks which he covered with a T-shirt.

After the assault Andrew drove back to Buerton and picked up a takeaway he'd promised to bring home to his mother.

While waiting for the takeaway he sent text messages to Griffiths and his partner's phone saying he was in "10 out of 10 pain" in his stomach and was bleeding as a result of the injuries inflicted upon him.

When he returned home the pain from the assault intensified and he told his mother that Griffiths had "set about" him with a baseball bat. 

The following morning Andrew was found in the bathroom. Despite the best efforts by paramedics and his mother, Andrew could not be revived.

A post mortem showed Andrew had died due to a large amount of internal bleeding in his abdomen caused by blunt force trauma. 

Detectives from Cheshire Police pieced together Andrew's movements in the run up to and after the attack using telecoms data as well as CCTV footage.

They arrested Griffiths on October 29, 2021 at his home and recovered the baseball bat from his property.

Griffiths was later charged with murder and appeared at South Cheshire Magistrates' Court in Crewe.

Senior investigating officer Det. Insp Dave Hutcheon said: "Andrew died an agonising and slow death due to extensive internal bleeding after being struck numerous times from Griffiths hitting him with what we believe was a baseball bat. 

"While we may never know exactly why Andrew was attacked by Griffiths we believe the reason was closer to home than over bringing drugs to the address and because he wrongly thought Andrew was romantically interested in his girlfriend.

"Since Andrew died it has been a difficult time for his mother and his family and friends and our thoughts have been with them since he passed away.

"We have worked incredibly hard to ensure that we were able to find his killer and to be able to give him and his family the justice they deserve."

Andrew's family have paid tribute to him:, saying: "While it doesn't ease the pain we've been caused by Andrew's senseless death, we are grateful for the guilty verdict. Andrew did not deserve to die the way he did, and the trauma of it has left its mark on all of us.

"We would like to thank all of the people who bravely came forward to offer help and information to the police and also those who came to court to give evidence so that the person responsible for Andrew's death could be brought to justice.

"Andrew was a dear son, brother, uncle and father and we will miss him terribly."