19 year old man from Scarisbrick found guilty of murder

A man has today been found guilty of the murder of Matthew Daulby in Ormskirk.
Our officers attended Railway Road at 12.05am on 29th July, last year, to reports of an ongoing disturbance.
Nineteen-year-old Matthew was found a short distance away with stab injuries. Despite the best efforts of the emergency services, Matthew sadly died later in hospital.

Our enquiries found that Matthew suffered the fatal wound, as well as other injuries, during an altercation involving a number of individuals in the early hours of 29th July.

Among those injuries was a lacerated wound to the left side of his forehead. This injury resulted from being struck to the head by defendant Henry Houghton with a makeshift weapon. This comprising of a tied up sock containing a rock.

Such was the force of the blow, it caused damage to Matthew’s brain and likely disorientated him around the time he sustained the fatal stab wound.
It was the prosecution’s case that although he didn’t deliver the fatal blow to Matthew, Houghton assisted in his murder and had a shared intention to cause really serious harm or to kill.

That view was shared by a jury at Preston Crown Court who unanimously convicted Houghton following a four-week trial.
Houghton, 19, from Scarisbrick, will be sentenced at Preston Crown Court at 10am on Friday.
A 20-year-old man from Ormskirk was found not guilty of Matthew’s murder.

We still want to speak to 20-year-old Thomas Dures as part of our ongoing enquiries.
We want to appeal to anyone with any information on his whereabouts to either get in contact with the police or Crimestoppers, who continue to offer a £10,000 reward for any information which leads to his arrest.

  101 and quote log 1007 of 29th July 2023. For immediate sightings   999.
Alternatively,   call independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.