Overview
- Declan Moor, Max Cashman and Lee Bradshaw were sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on September 14 after Cashman and Bradshaw pleaded guilty to manslaughter and Moor was convicted at trial.
- Prosecutors said the men lured 31-year-old Aiden Matthews to a Norton alley on December 31, 2025 to recover a £900 debt linked to his crack-cocaine addiction and occasional drug-dealing work.
- A post-mortem found Matthews suffered a single punch, a fractured skull and a fatal brain bleed after his head hit the ground, and he died in hospital on January 3, 2026.
- Court evidence relied on CCTV showing the defendants’ movements and a pocket search before the attack plus mobile phone records that prosecutors said proved coordination to recover the debt.
- The judge jailed Moor for six years and six months, Cashman for six years and Bradshaw for five years and four months, and the family described the sentencing as a small measure of closure while warning about the deadly risks of informal drug disputes.