DISTRESSING audio of a 999 call in which the victim of a machete attack in Barrow struggled to breathe was played to a court where a man is on trial for his murder.

Life could be heard ebbing away from popular Ormsgill man Guy Hamilton, 35, as the operator tried to send for help in the 12-minute conversation made after the fatal wound was inflicted at his flat in Barrow on April 30 last year.

A damaged voice box and slash to his jugular vein had left the victim reduced to barely audible gurgling, wheezing and panting noises.

With the operator unable to establish his location, Mr Hamilton stumbled to neighbour Callum Stuart’s house, who took the mobile from him and administered first aid.

As the ambulance arrived at the scene, Mr Stuart told the operator: “He is having trouble breathing. The blood is all going through his throat now. His lungs are filling up with blood.

“He has gone unconscious now.”


Victim: Guy Hamilton with his dog, Freud The evidence came on the second day of the trial at Preston Crown Court.

Damien Lee Hill, 45, is accused of murdering his friend Mr Hamilton with a three-foot machete in Meetings View, Barrow after a day of drinking and drug-taking.

Recalling Mr Hamilton’s last moments, Mr Stuart told the court: “He seemed frightened. He was trying but he couldn't speak at all.

“He moved towards my front garden wall but I was scared he was going to fall.”

As he lowered the victim to the pavement in front of his home, he spotted a figure - later identified as the accused - outside Mr Hamilton’s doorway, cigarette in hand.

“Guy looked over to his flat so I did too. I saw a person by the door in an orange Adidas jacket smoking,” the witness added.

“Then he walked down the steps and went towards Angle Meadow Lane.”

The court also heard how a visibly drunk Hill returned nearby to his home in Sowerby Avenue and made a series of admissions to his family.

Hill's mother Judith McEwan said: “When he came in I asked him the usual question ‘did they (Barrow AFC) win?’ and he said ‘yes...no’. I told him to make up his mind.

“He’d had a drink. He looked a bit distressed then he said ‘I have been in a fight’. I said ‘why, at your age?’. I thought he should know better. I told him I’d talk to him about it in the morning.

“I went upstairs and when I came out of the bathroom his bedroom door was ajar and he was sat on the bed with his head bowed.

“A bit later on my son Cameron said he could see police from the kitchen window. Damien came into my room and I asked what was going on, then he said ‘I slit his throat’.”

Hill's stepfather, Councillor McEwan spoke of the moment his stepson decided to return to the scene.

He said: “It didn’t make sense. He didn’t look like he had been in a bad fight. I went to Damien and he told me he was going to hand himself in.

“He gave me some money to give to his mother, went down the steps and that was the last time I saw him.”

Cllr McEwan went on to tell the court that he knew Mr Hamilton as a friend of his stepson and assisted in getting him a new flat in Meetings View through his work as a councillor.

“I knew Guy quite well,” he added.

In day one of the trial, Mr Simon Medland QC, prosecuting, revealed that the machete used to inflict the fatal wound on Mr Hamilton had been purchased by him the week prior to his death.

Ketamine and a large quantity of alcohol were found in blood samples taken from both the victim and the defendant in the aftermath of the incident on April 30 last year.

Mr Hamilton and Hill had spent the day together. The had been in the Tally Ho pub and had watched Barrow AFC take on Wrexham at the Holker Street Stadium before returning to the former’s home in Ormsgill.

The defence argues that Hill had consumed so much alcohol and other substances that he is unable to recall much of the incident.

While admitting he caused the injury, Hill maintains he did not intend to cause his friend serious injury or death.

The trial continues.