A MAN who became 'judge, jury and executioner' has been sentenced for kicking the stepfather of murdered schoolgirl Lucy McHugh.

Charlie Whitemore, 22, and Wayne Grant, 28, were yesterday found not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to Richard Elmes.

A jury at Southampton Crown Court also found the pair not guilty of alternative counts of causing actual bodily harm to Mr Elmes.

However Whitemore was sentenced for battery, after pleading guilty to the charge at the beginning of the trial.

Addressing Whitemore, Judge Peter Henry said: “Mr Elmes was in a local shop when you decided to take it upon yourself to become judge, jury and executioner so far as what you perceived his failings to be.

“You instigated this whole episode. Without you none of this would have happened.”

The verdicts come after a three day trial at the city crown court, in which jury members heard how Mr Elmes suffered a broken elbow during an incident outside Arrow News, also known as Shayona News, on July 21 last year.

Earlier in the trial, prosecutor Dan Sawyer said Whitemore, of Waveney Green, “decided to make a scene” after seeing Mr Elmes in the shop and began filming.

Daily Echo:

PICTURED: Richard Elmes outside court

The court heard Grant, of Byron Road, had tried to be a “peacemaker” before he was hit and pulled Mr Elmes to the floor – where he suffered a broken elbow.

Both denied inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Elmes.

Jury members unanimously found the pair not guilty.

Whitemore was sentenced for battery, relating to two kicks on Mr Elmes.

He was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work by Judge Peter Henry, who accused the 22-year-old of attempting to be “judge, jury and executioner” following the conviction of Stephen Nicholson, a friend and lodger of Mr Elmes, for the murder of Lucy McHugh in July 2018.

As previously reported, Nicholson, 25, of no fixed address, was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 33 years, last year after being found guilty of Lucy's rape and murder.