Thomas Dures stabbed 19-year-old Matthew Daulby to death during a street brawl in Ormskirk
Thomas Dures
Thomas Dures’ supporters were removed from court shouting “they’re all corrupt” and “may God have mercy on them” after he was convicted of the murder of Matthew Daulby. The 21-year-old killer fled the country hours after he stabbed his teenage victim to death during a street brawl in Ormskirk.
Dures was convicted of murder and wounding with intent this week following a trial at Preston Crown Court. An eyewitness told the ECHO that two women who had attended court in support of Dures had to be removed from the building in the aftermath of the verdict while screaming and shouting.
They were reported to have made comments including “they’re all corrupt, the whole place is corrupt, everybody is corrupt”. One was meanwhile heard to say “may God have mercy on them”.
Jurors previously heard that Mr Daulby travelled to the Ormskirk area with friends on the evening of July 29 2023 after receiving a message in a group chat, named “M.R.S”, which stated that one of their number, who was alone and on crutches, had been punched three times by Dures. This led to a confrontation near to Alpine Bar on Railway Road, with the defendant having been present at the premises with his associate Henry Houghton earlier in the evening.
The latter would strike Matthew over the head with a makeshift weapon, consisting of a rock stuffed into a sports sock, during the ensuing melee. The 19-year-old suffered damage to his skull and frontal lobe during the incident, although this injury was not fatal of itself.
However, Dures, of Whalley Drive in Aughton, West Lancashire, then delivered the deadly blow to the chest with a knife which he had been carrying all night, having alleged that he was minding the weapon on behalf of Houghton. Mr Daulby managed to leave the scene of the fight but collapsed on nearby Moorgate, later being pronounced dead at Aintree Hospital in the early hours of July 30.
Matthew Daulby
Dures also stabbed two other men during the altercation before fleeing. He discarded his jacket in a nearby park in the aftermath and handed his man bag to a friend.
Having washed his face in the Railway pub and disposed of the knife in an alleyway, he then took a taxi home before travelling to a friend’s home at around 3am. It was there that he apparently first learned that the brawl had resulted in serious injuries, having told jurors from the witness box: “I didn’t believe it. I didn’t think anyone was seriously injured, because I clearly seen everyone was able to run away.”
Following posts on Facebook which reported Mr Daulby’s death, he was collected from the Plough Inn pub by an unknown driver and taken to Kent. He thereafter travelled via the Channel Tunnel to Austria, took a coach to southern Italy and boarded a ferry to Greece.
Asked why he had absconded to Europe, Dures said in his evidence: “I was scared of going to prison. There was a £10,000 bounty on my head. I was scared to come back.”
Dures remained in Athens until December last year, when he handed himself in at a police station before being extradited back to the UK. In the intervening period, Houghton, of Barrison Green in Scarisbrick, was handed a life sentence imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years behind bars for Matthew’s murder.
Following his conviction, Dures will now be sentenced on Monday next week. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fallows, from Lancashire Police’s major investigation team, saying following Thursday’s verdict: “After two long years, the man responsible for fatally stabbing Matthew Daulby has finally been brought to justice.
“This has been two years of pain and frustration, in which the Daulbys have had so many unanswered questions. They have had to figure out a way to try and grieve, knowing the man responsible to taking their son’s life before it had really started was actively evading justice and celebrating his 21st birthday in the sun, something Matthew will never be able to do.
“I’d like to thank my investigation team for everything they have done in securing this conviction, the Crown Prosecution Service and our KC, Peter Glenser, and junior counsel Katy Appleton. I would also like to thank the public and the media for all the witness appeals they shared and their help in keeping this case in the spotlight.”
