A KILLER who hunted down his love rival and attacked him outside a York pub has been jailed for eight and half years for manslaughter.

Kenneth Dunnington posed as a friend of his partner's to find out where Benjamin Treherne was drinking, joined him at the bar, then attacked him when he went outside to smoke.

Witnesses said Dunnington, 59, kicked his victim in the chest and head, and told him: "Next time I see you I’m gonna shoot you."

Mr Treherne, 45, already suffered from a number of alcohol-related diseases and was in poor health before the assault, on February 19 outside the Fulford Arms in Fulford Road.

Dunnington had discovered text messages suggesting a clandestine relationship between his partner and Mr Treherne.

York Press:

The Fulford Arms in Fulford Road

Mr Treherne was taken to hospital with a perforated gall bladder. His condition deteriorated, and he died from multiple organ failure on March 7, said Christopher Smith, prosecuting at Leeds Crown Court on Monday.

Dunnington, 59 of Byland Avenue, off Huntington Road in York, denied murdering Mr Treherne but admitted manslaughter, a plea accepted by the prosecution.

Mr Smith said Mr Treherne’s abuse of alcohol in adulthood had led to various diseases including cirrhosis of the liver. A transplant had been considered but was not viable because of his continuing dependency upon alcohol.

He was often in considerable pain and had frequently been admitted to hospital. At some point he became a resident in Minster Grange Care Home where he met Kay Brabbs, who worked there and was the partner of Dunnington.

Mr Smith told the court “they seem to have forged a close relationship, a relationship that was kept secret from the defendant, and a close friendship that continued after Mr Treherne left the care home.”

On the evening of February 19 Kay Brabbs spent the evening at the home of a friend in Lilling Avenue off Monkton Road, where the two women were drinking together.

That day she had received telephone calls and text messages from Mr Treherne and when Dunnington later arrived to collect her he found the messages on her phone, discovering “their clandestine friendship”.

Dunnington contacted Mr Treherne and, posing as a friend of his partner, discovered he was drinking in the Fulford Arms. He parked nearby and went inside and found him.

Both were drinking at the bar and after a short time he engaged Mr Treherne in conversation, and when he went out for a smoke he was close behind him, both with glasses in hand.

There was an altercation outside and Mr Treherne was on the ground when he was seen by witnesses. A student walking past saw Dunnington kick him to the front of his torso and another witness said there were two kicks including one to the head.

The student heard Dunnington say: “He’s been sleeping with my wife” as he threw his glass away and the man on the ground replied “He’s chatting ****”

As he moved away from the scene Dunnington shouted back at Mr Treherne: “The next time I see you I’m gonna shoot you.”

He ran to the home of some friends in Wenlock Terrace where he grabbed a work jacket and hat and said he had done something stupid adding “Kay’s been having an affair.” He then returned to his car and drove away.

By then Mr Treherne had stumbled back inside the public house and been taken to hospital where he said he had been hit and fallen to the ground and had then been kicked.

He was admitted but over the following days his condition deteriorated. His death was recorded as multiple organ failure due to perforation of the gall bladder with his liver cirrhosis a contributing factor.

Dunnington was first arrested on suspicion of the assault on March 1, before Mr Treherne's death and said Kay Brabbs phone would help his defence. En route to the police station he said: “Wouldn’t you do anything to keep your family together if someone was trying to take them from you?”

Peter Moulson QC representing Dunnington said he had reacted to what he saw in the text messages and had intended to speak to Mr Treherne and ask him “to desist from sending them.”

He had not taken any weapon or used the glass that was in his hand. “There was clearly an altercation of sorts at the top of those steps and the deceased came to be on the floor.”

He said Dunnington accepted two kicks but had not intended serious harm and no bones were broken. He had felt remorse when he heard what had happened and even drove Kay Brabbs to the hospital twice to see Mr Treherne.

Jailing Dunnington the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC said he was aware Mr Treherne walked with a stick and was in poor health before he went to the floor outside the public house. “There is no clear evidence exactly how, and whilst he was on the floor you assaulted him kicking him to the body and the head with your shod foot.”

“Your words at the time were clearly intended to justify to any of the observers justification for what you had done, namely that he had been sleeping with your wife.”

He said he accepted Dunnington had shown remorse when he heard the other man was in hospital but he had shown pre-meditation in seeking him out and kicked him when he was helpless on the ground.

“Whatever your shock at what you discovered on your wife’s phone that night, there could be no justification for the dreadful attack you carried out on this vulnerable man. Kicking anyone when down is completely out of order.