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Man pleads guilty to murder
A CHORLEY man has pleaded guilty to the gruesome murder of John Paul Bennett.
Philip Stewart, 34, of The Avenue, Adlington entered on Tuesday afternoon ahead of what was expected to be a three-week long trial at Preston Crown Court.
His co-defendant, Christen Gardner, 26, of the same address, had her plea of guilty to assisting an offender accepted by the Crown.
At a previous hearing in December, two Leyland men, Kevin Forbes, 53m and Alan Barton, 56, both of Leyland Lane, also pleaded guilty to assisting an offender.
Mr Bennett, 30, died on September 17, 2009, after a violent assault at the house Stewart shared with Gardner.
A post mortem revealed he died of massive head injuries.
Mr Bennett had been out drinking in Chorley town centre with Stewart and Gardner.
All three of them then returned to Gardner's house and joined Forbes and Barton and continued drinking.
Later that night a disagreement took place and Stewart fatally injured Bennett.
He then instructed the other three to help him dispose of the body.
They used a wheelie bin to transport the body down to a nearby recreational area and set it on fire with petrol.
All four defendants will be sentenced at Preston Crown Court on Friday 5 March, 10.30am.
* Read Wednesday's Chorley Guardian
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Weather for Chorley
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
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