Tears in court as family remembers popular Peterborough dad who died after city centre fight

Popular father of one, Glenn Boocock (37), died 12 days after the incident in Broadway, Peterborough after suffering a brain injury. He had been knocked unconscious after he fell to the ground a few moments after the start of the fight.

Peterborough Crown Court heard that there was not enough evidence to say if the fatal head injury was caused in the fight, and all six men - three of whom were Glenn’s childhood friends, pleaded guilty to affray.

The six men appeared at the court today.

One man, Miles Wilcox, was jailed for five months for his role, while the other five were handed suspended sentences.

A large number of Glenn’s friends and family were in court, wearing ‘in memory of Glenn’ badges. There were tears from some as CCTV footage of the incident was shown.

Glenn’s father, Alan Truman, is still struggling to come to terms with what happened that night.

Speaking after the sentence, he said: “Losing Glenn at the prime of his life in such a senseless way has been the hardest thing we have had to deal with as a family. I have lost my only child and his young son lost the daddy he idolised. It’s all still so raw, and the ripple effect from this loss has been immense across wider family, friends, and also generally within the community; people who knew Glenn through his work as an electrician or socially as a kind and genuinely nice guy.

“Glenn should still be here, loving life, loving his son and being the most incredible part of our family that he always was.”

Glenn’s mum, Lorna Boocock, said she had lost ‘the most precious thing’ in her only child. She said: “There was no justice for my son, but I am very pleased with the outcome for our three boys, Glenn’s friends, who are absolutely devastated by what happened that night.”

The court heard Glenn had met up with friends to watch the England vs Holland Football match on June 6 last year.

Some of Glenn’s friends, Billy Hilliam (39), of Paston Ridings, Peterborough, Jamie Spires (28), of Hawkeshead Way, Peterborough and Gary Gibbs (33), of Sapperton, Peterborough headed off for a taxi at the rank just outside the pub. The street was busy with many people queuing for taxis, and CCTV showed an argument started, with a group of females accusing the men of jumping the queue.

Wilcox (25), of North Street, Peterborough, Gavin Chappell (34), of Orchard Mews, Peterborough, and Damien Narciso (32), of Sandpiper Drive, Peterborough, then became involved in the argument.

Glenn was further back on Broadway chatting with a group of girls, he saw what was happening and headed over to support his friends.

The CCTV footage did not show what happened to Glenn, but he fell to the floor, banging his head and was knocked unconscious, with passers by rushing to his aid.

Meanwhile, the other members of both groups became involved in a brawl, with several punches thrown. Wilcox picked up a bottle, but the court heard he had not hit anyone with it.

The fight lasted four minutes, spilling into the street and into shop doorways, before the footage showed the group hugging, and the incident drew to a close.

Judge Matthew Lowe said: “In summary, it was a relatively sustained incident involving a number of passages where there was little happening other than people facing off. There was a lot of grappling, wrestling and pushing and shoving, and occasions where punches are swung - but few are particularly effective and there are not a great number of them.”

Glenn attended hospital that night and also returned a few days later, as well as visiting the walk-in centre.

Just 12 days after the incident, electrician Glenn was found dead at his home after colleagues became concerned he had not turned up for work.

The court heard all six of the defendants were interviewed by police.

Chappell made no comment to detectives, Narcisso and Gibbs both said they had tried to break up the incident, Wilcox said he had a poor memory of the fight, and Spires admitted he had thrown punches.

The court was told Spires and Gibbs have no previous convictions, Narciso, Hilliam and Chappell had historic convictions for public order matters, while Wilcox had three convictions for battery, dating back to 2017.

Narciso was given a five month sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £400 costs.

Spires, Chappell, Gibbs and Hilliam were all given a four month sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 120 hours unpaid work. They were each given a £150 bill for court costs.