The ringleader of a gang of drunk teenagers who brutally battered a dad to death outside his home has applied for parole.
Adam Swellings was one of three teens who attacked 47-year-old Garry Newlove after he caught them vandalising his wife's car on the evening of August 10 2007. The dad-of-three was taken to hospital, where he died of his injuries on August 12.
Swellings, who was 19 at the time, had been freed on bail just hours earlier after an assault, and had ignored a court order banning him from Warrington where the crime took place. He was convicted of murder in January 2008, along with 17-year-old Stephen Sorton and 16-year-old Jordan Cunliffe, and was given a life sentence with a minimum of 17 years.
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He is now due to appear before the parole board for the first time, as his minimum sentence expires in August.
Garry’s widow, Baroness Helen Newlove, declined to comment on Swellings’ upcoming parole hearing but is expected to read an impact statement at it. She has been a vocal supporter of the government’s long-awaited Victims and Prisoners Bill, which aims to improve the support offered to victims of crime, and bolster their rights to be updated and consulted on their cases.
Swellings’ fellow killers Cunliffe and Sorton, then 16 and 17, received minimum jail terms of 12 and 15 years respectively for Garry's murder. Sorton’s sentence was cut by two years on appeal and both he and Cunliffe were released in 2020.
Swellings, from Crewe, was cleared for a move to open prison two years ago, but the decision was blocked by the Justice Secretary at the time, Dominic Raab.
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