The boy who can't be named for legal reasons from Clifton has been found guilty of murdering 68-year-old father of four George Thornley in his own home on 1 December last year.

George Thornley was not found until the next day when friends, worried about him not turning up for a fishing competition in Blackpool visited his home in Meadow Close, Clifton.

They found him lying in his kitchen in a pool of blood with serious head injuries and barely alive. He has been attacked with a rubber mallet and a knife and sadly died at Royal Preston hospital almost three weeks later on 21 December 2008, surrounded by his family.

The boy pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the second day of his trial but this plea was rejected by the prosecution and he was tried and convicted for murder. It took the jury less than two hours to convict him.

Police are still unsure of his motive, although they suspect he was disturbed by Mr Thornley during an attempted burglary. The boy was injured in the struggle with Mr Thornley but came up with a multitude of different excuses to explain away his injuries.
The boy's fascination with knives and violence was demonstrated through an offensive and threatening text message which was shown to the jury as evidence. In the text to a friend he stated that he had 'bottled' someone and threatened to cut their throat and expected to find himself in court the following week. He was never charged with any offence in relation to this incident but the message helped the prosecution to demonstrate his character.

Detective Chief Inspector Tim Leeson from the Force Major Investigation Team who led the enquiry said: "The exact circumstances of the attack on George are known only to his attacker but it is clear that he suffered a brutal and savage attack which included his throat being cut. Mr Thornley was struck a number of blows to his head and body with a mallet. He also had defensive words to his hands and several of his fingers were left broken.

"It was the boy's intention to cause Mr Thornley really serious harm, which we have proven here in court today. I only hope today's verdict can bring some comfort to George's family who have acted with dignity throughout these proceedings."

George's family: Shaun Thornley, 43, Tracey Thornley, 42, Wayne Thornley, 40 and Rachel Thornley, 35 said:

"It is the right verdict and the outcome that we wanted, but we feel no sense of relief as we must still go through the sentence and whatever he is sentenced to will never be enough. He will still be a young man when he is released and it will not take away the images of his injuries we saw had been inflicted on dad, the video will continue to play on our minds forever.

"It is distressing for us to know that he was left on his own for a full day in the cold, dark and alone and to think what was going through his mind and the fear he must have felt.

"We grew up in that house but now we know where he was laid, where the blood was, it is going to make going back into that house so much harder.

"Dad had battled throat cancer for ten years and ironically was given the all clear in October just weeks before he was subject to this horrific attack.

"There is not a sufficient deterrent for people not to go out and commit these crimes, even in death dad has had less rights than this boy - he will be a drain on society for the rest of his life. He is evil, has showed no remorse and he has continued to lie. There are decent people like our dad that fight life threatening illnesses then to have his life taken away by someone in an instant, dad was slim and frail through illness and offered no threat.

"We remain in limbo waiting for sentence but there will never be closure, all we can do is to live our lives in some way that dad would be proud of.

"We have taken comfort from the critical care staff at Royal Preston Hospital who did their best for dad. We would also like to thank the Police, particularly our Family Liaison Officer and the CPS. We were impressed with their determination to secure this conviction, their hard work, effort and particularly their attention to detail.

"Special thanks to Dave and Kerry Cartmell who went out of their way to check on dad when unusually he did not turn up to go fishing.

"Fishing was a big part of his life and we have taken great comfort from all the messages of condolence from fisherman all over the country. Dad would have been humbled to know they have been working hard to raise money for the George Thornley appeal which has helped a number of charities."

Sentencing will take place on 19th June at Preston.