Haunting final smiling selfie of pals taken hours before one choked the other

[Nergal]

 

A HAUNTING final selfie shows three pals smiling together just hours before one "choked the life" from another and buried him alive in a shallow grave.

Richard Spottiswood, his then girlfriend Lucy Burn, and victim Darren Bonner seem happy and relaxed in the snap taken during a caravan holiday.

Just hours later, Darren, 24, was strangled and left for dead at a remote seaside beauty spot in Cresswell, Northumberland.

The pair then span a web of lies to throw cops off the scent after carrying out the "revenge" killing.

Spottiswood, 34, has now been caged for life with a minimum of 22 years at Newcastle Crown Court after being convicted of murder.

Burn was acquitted of murder but pleaded guilty to assisting an offender after telling lies to protect her killer boyfriend and was jailed for 30 months.

The court heard drug lord Spottiswood feared Darren had betrayed him to a rival dealer and a “heated argument” broke out.

After choking him, he loaded Darren's body into the back of a former police riot van and dumped him in a shallow grave.

Prosecutor Timothy Roberts QC said: “From a position of total physical control, Spottiswood applied as much force as he believed would be necessary.

“When he was rendered unconscious, Spottiswood believed him dead. He left him in a shallow grave in the remote countryside.”

A walker later discovered Darren alive and naked on July 10 but he died in hospital 16 days later due to irreversible brain damage suffered from his brain being starved of oxygen and blood.

Burn lied to police and said Darren had simply "disappeared" the morning after he rowed with Spottiswood.

The pair concocted a story about stopping near the burial site for Burn to search for her mobile phone.

They evaded police for three days when they returned to South Tyneside.

During the trial, Spottiswood claimed he acted in self-defence following an argument at the side of the recently-dug hole.

But Judge Ashurst insisted the cannabis dealer subjected his victim to an “untimely, violent and undignified death” and left the shallow grave uncovered as he knew his rival was still alive.

He said: “Even you, Richard Spottiswood, were not prepared to bury him alive.”

In an emotional victim impact statement, Darren's mum described the devastating impact of losing her son.

She said: “My Darren was a beautiful soul and would go out of his way to help people, especially his friends who he thought of as family.

“He was so loyal and trusted them. He only thought the best of people. He wanted to fit in and belong. He had so many friends in so many places.

“Our family missed him so much. There’s not a minute of the day when I don’t think of Darren.

“I hope they suffer every minute of every day for doing this, as I am. He was no threat to those who destroyed his life and ours.”