Son jailed for manslaughter after father killed by thrown brick

A 20-year-old man has been jailed for manslaughter after throwing a brick that hit and killed his father.

Thomas Dear, of no fixed address, denied murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter of his father (Thomas Dear Senior) at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday (10th December).

Dear was jailed for 3 years and 4 months on Monday (15th December), which he will serve at a young offenders' institution.

Dear threw a brick through his father's open van window on 16 June this year, which he claimed was an act of self-defence.

The brick hit his father, who was then 38, in the head, causing a large forehead laceration.

The pair had previously been seen on CCTV, with Dear throwing pieces of a broken plant pot at his father, and the father approaching Dear with a garden fork.

After being hit by the brick, Dear Senior drove away from the scene, but subsequently suffered a cardiac arrest at the side of the road.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, despite the efforts of paramedics.

A pathologist from the Home Office linked the head injury from the brick to the fatal cardiac seizure.

Detective Chief Inspector Ruby Burrow, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Whilst Dear may not have set out to intentionally kill his father, his dangerous and deliberate actions have resulted in the most devastating and irreversible of consequences."