Michael Hamer

Case details

Michael Hamer was 14 at the time of the attack. He pleaded guilty to murder at the start of his trial at Manchester Crown Court.

Joe Geeling, aged 11, was murdered. His body was beaten, repeatedly stabbed, and dumped in a park.

The offence

Joe Geeling was beaten repeatedly with a frying pan, which left him with multiple bruises to the head and a fractured eye socket. Hamer then took two knives from the kitchen and stabbed Joe 16 times, puncturing his windpipe in two places and cutting a major artery.

After the attack, Hamer dragged Joe’s body downstairs, put it in a wheelie bin and took the bin to Whitehead Park, where he hid it.

Timeline

• 1 March 2006 — A massive search was launched after Joe failed to return home from school.
• 2 March 2006 — Joe’s body was found hidden under debris in a gulley in Whitehead Park.
• October 15, 2006 — Michael Hamer was sentenced to life in prison (minimum 12 years) with a minimum tariff of 12 years before being eligible for parole.
• Monday, 16 October 2006 — BBC News published the report that a 15-year-old boy had been given a life sentence for murdering Joe Geeling.

Investigation

A search was launched for Joe after he failed to return home from school. Joe was a cystic fibrosis sufferer.

Detective Superintendent Martin Bottomley, who led the investigation into Joe Geeling’s death, said:

"In his mind, three weeks before the event, he has selected Joe as a victim. He's selected him as someone he wants to harm."

Det Supt Bottomley also said:

"He has singled him out because of his illness, because he was young, because he was small and weak and not as heavy as him."

Det Supt Bottomley said:

"There is nothing sinister in that,"

and:

"But we also know he tended to role play at being a teacher whilst he was at home. "Again, nothing sinister in that, but just perhaps something a bit too immature for a boy of his age."

Det Supt Bottomley said:

"He acted in a perfectly rational way. He placed Joe into a wheelie bin within minutes of killing him. He walked him through the streets of Bury. He took mobile phone calls from his mum while he was wheeling him through the streets of Bury, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "He then went back to the house, he then cleaned up. He then did his homework. He then went to school the next day as normal and when questioned about the acts and the sightings during the course of the morning just shrugged and lied his way through them."

Det Supt Bottomley also said:

"How does she cope? She's lost a son as well."

Det Supt Bottomley said:

"He's selected Joe."

Det Supt Bottomley said:

"He said in interview that anyone could have been his victim, but my view is that he's selected Joe,"

and:

"Rejected by boys his own age, Hamer retreated into his own world, developing a fascination with younger pupils."

Arrest

No arrest-specific details were provided in the case record.

Trial

At the start of his trial at Manchester Crown Court, Michael Hamer pleaded guilty to murder.

Mr Justice McCombe said Joe had done absolutely nothing to encourage Hamer’s sexual advance, and that the rejection of which triggered the attack. The judge said the killing itself was not thought of in advance but triggered by Joe’s rejection of the defendant’s sexual advance.

McCombe said that doctors found Hamer was suffering from an “adjustment disorder” at the time of the murder.

At court, Alistair Webster QC outlined the prosecution’s case.

Alistair Webster QC said Joe was reported missing by his mother at 1724 GMT.

Webster QC said Hamer had written Joe a letter, purportedly from the deputy head at his school, to lure him to his house.

The court was told a second letter found at Hamer’s home showed a clear sexual interest in Joe by Hamer. A total of four drafts of the letter were found by police.

Hamer claimed Joe came to his house to charge his mobile phone, but Webster QC said this explanation did not “stand up to examination”.

Webster QC said Joe was the victim of a “sustained and savage attack”. Webster QC also said:

"Although there was no evidence to indicate a sexual assault the evidence did not exclude one, he said."

Webster QC told the court Hamer’s account about why he got the frying pan lacked credibility because no photo was found.

Hamer told police he had got the frying pan because Joe had been looking at a photograph of his dead step-brother, which he refused to put down.

After the attack, Webster QC stated Hamer dragged Joe’s body downstairs, put it in a wheelie bin and took the bin to Whitehead Park where he hid it.

Webster QC said Hamer cleaned Joe’s blood and told his mother the stains on the carpet were caused by a leaking red pen.

Hamer later admitted his responsibility for the death but told police he had set up the meeting with Joe as “a wind-up” — so Joe would go to meet him but no-one would be there.

David Steer QC mitigated for the defendant. Steer said Hamer killed Joe after an “adolescent sexual approach” was rejected. Steer described Hamer as “maladapted” and said Hamer felt rejected and isolated.

Steer said Hamer was psychologically flawed, had been bullied at school, and never knew his older half-brother Mark, who died from cancer and did not have much contact with his father.

Steer added:

"This previous background to the commission of the offence leads both psychologists to conclude he was a young man suffering from an abnormality of mind in the form of an adjustment disorder,"

and Steer said Hamer told psychologists he lured Joe to his home to scare him and make the victim feel what it was like to be “isolated and scared” as he was when he was bullied.

Steer told the court:

"We submit he simply did not feel able to admit that his motive was a sexual one. He found it easier to give these other accounts."

Steer said:

"He made a sexual advance towards Joe who responded to him as 'gay' and threatened to tell others about what he had tried to do,"

and:

"He then tragically responded in the way he did."

Steer said:

"I've been asked specifically by him and his mother to express their sorrow and deep regret for what happened in this case."

Sentencing

Mr Justice McCombe imposed a minimum tariff of 12 years, and Hamer was told he would serve a minimum of 12 years before being eligible for parole.

McCombe stated that the doctors found Hamer was suffering from an “adjustment disorder” at the time of the murder.

Other details

Joe Geeling was a cystic fibrosis sufferer.

Joe and Michael Hamer were pupils at St Gabriel’s Roman Catholic School in Bury. Eddie Robinson, headteacher of the school, said:

"The school did all it could to ensure the care and safety of all its pupils. "I'm confident that our policies and procedures are robust and any incidents of bullying are resolved quickly and effectively."

Robinson also said:

"The outcome of today's proceedings should allow the school to begin to begin to work towards closure, and attempt to get back to some degree of normality."

A profile of the case described Michael Hamer as 14 at the time and at the lower end of average academically, associated mostly with younger pupils. The profile said Hamer endured being picked on, bullied for dinner money and sometimes attacked.

The profile described Hamer as having “selected” Joe, developing a fascination with younger pupils, and spending time playing computer games. It said he drew up school timetables featuring the real names of younger pupils at St Gabriel’s High School in Bury, Greater Manchester.

Psychology professor Cary Cooper, of Lancaster University, said:

"It's because they want to be in a role which has some kind of control,"

and:

"Which would indicate to me that they feel they don't have control in their ordinary school life. "But why that fantasy world should then turn to extreme violence is another matter,"

and:

"he added."

The report said Hamer’s mother moved away from the house in which Joe was murdered and that she faced the prospect of her son spending a long time in custody.

Michael Hamer was described as being added to a list of childhood killers, including Mary Bell, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. The record also included historical examples unrelated to Hamer’s case: Mary Bell, James Bulger, Luke Mitchell, Damilola Taylor, and Richard Keith, with details of their convictions and sentences as stated in the material.

The record included claims about other cases, including that Luke Mitchell was detained for life in February last year by Judge Lord Nimmo Smith and ordered to spend a minimum of 20 years behind bars, and that the brothers Danny and Ricky Preddie were found guilty of manslaughter and given an eight-year youth custody sentence. The record also included that Richard Keith was convicted of culpable homicide at the High Court in Edinburgh and sent to Kerelaw secure unit in Stevenston, Ayrshire, and later released in January 1999.