Grieving father who tried to kill teenager, 18, in ‘brutal and merciless’ machete revenge attack after wrongly blaming him for the death of son who was found dead in pond after taking drugs is jailed for 33 years
A grieving father who launched a ‘brutal and merciless’ revenge attack on the teenager he thought had murdered his son was jailed for 33 years today.
Samson Price, 48, attacked Patrick Brown, then 18, with a 16 inch bladed machete as the teenager left a gym in Northwich, Cheshire in September 2021.
Price, from Goose Green, Wigan attacked roofer Mr Brown because he held him responsible for the death of his son, Samson Price Jnr, who drowned in a pond in Wigan the previous October.
A trial at Chester Crown Court heard that Price was angry that a police investigation had decided that his son died accidentally after taking the drug MDMA on a camping trip with Mr Brown and another friend.
Price was found guilty of attempted murder at his trial and was today sentenced to 33 years by Judge Michael Leeming who told him he would serve a minimum of 20 years before being considered for parole.
Samson Price, 48, (pictured), who launched a ‘brutal and merciless’ revenge attack on the teenager he thought had murdered his son was jailed for 33 years today
Price attacked Patrick Brown (pictured), then 18, with a 16 inch bladed machete as the teenager left a gym in Northwich, Cheshire in September 2021
Price’s wife Rosanna stormed from the public gallery after the sentence saying: ‘It’s a joke, it’s not justice.’
Judge Leeming told Price: ‘There was no justification for you meting out your own form of summary justice. Patrick Brown was not responsible for your son’s death.’
The judge said that Price still considered his questions unanswered and that he posed ‘a significant risk of causing significant harm’ to Mr Brown.
He said that Mr Brown, from Winsford, Cheshire was originally arrested on suspicion of murder before police decided the death was accidental. An inquest in September 2021 recorded an open verdict.
Judge Leeming said that ten days after the inquest, Price launched a ‘carefully planned and pre meditated’ attack in broad daylight with the machete after placing a tracker on Mr Brown’s van and keeping him under surveillance.
He said: ‘You formed a settled intention to kill Mr Brown. This was carried out for revenge as you continued to hold him responsible for your son’s death. You were determined to hold him to account.
‘I reject your assertion that you simply wanted to point out to him the errors of his ways.’
He said that one of the 21 blows struck in the 26 second attack came within millimetres of a vital artery and Mr Brown was ‘very luck to be alive.’
The judge said that Mr Brown was ‘an innocent victim’ who had been left with permanent and irreversible injuries as well as post traumatic stress disorder.
He said: ‘This was a brutal and merciless attack. It was prolonged and frenzied and your animosity and rage has not simply gone away.’
Samson Junior who drowned in a pond near the family home in Wigan, Greater Manchester in October 2020
Price’s wife Rosanna (pictured with Samson Jnr) stormed from the public gallery after the sentence saying: ‘It’s a joke, it’s not justice’
Prosecutor Simon Mills had told the court that the prosecution accepted that Price was ‘a bereaved father who had been left disgruntled by the outcome of the police investigation into his son’s death.’
Mr Mills said that Mr Brown had detailed the effects of the attack in two personal victim statements in which he said he thought he was going to die during the incident.
Mr Brown said: ‘The incident has changed me massively and turned my life around completely. I no longer feel safe in public or in my home.
‘I suffer from panic and anxiety attacks and can no longer do anything on my own. I have lost my sense of independence.’
‘I used to play football with my mates but I can no longer do those things. I have flash backs and sometimes things get too much for me and I have to go to my room and start screaming. My mother has to calm me down.
‘I have gone from being a healthy boy to one who needs a bag full of prescriptions to help me through the day. I often think about how close I was to dying. I am still suffering.’
