Louth loft ladder suffocation killer Harry Scott jailed
A man has been jailed for killing a friend who suffocated while trapped between the rungs of a loft ladder.
Harry Scott was sentenced to three years for the manslaughter of 32-year-old Richard Woods in Lincolnshire.
Mr Woods was asphyxiated when he became trapped between the rungs of the ladder as he tried to escape as Scott hit him around the legs, on 12 January 2014.
Scott, 25 of Ramsgate, Louth, had denied the charge during his trial at Lincoln Crown Court.
He was convicted by a jury after a month-long trial.
'No schoolboy prank'
During the trial Adrienne Lucking QC, prosecuting, told the jury Scott unlawfully imprisoned Richard Woods in the loft of Mr Woods' home in Spring Terrace, Louth, by raising the connecting ladder and securing it so that it could not be lowered.
Mr Woods, described as a shy and vulnerable man, attempted to climb between two of the ladder steps and became trapped.
Scott then repeatedly struck him with a length of wood rather than attempt to free him and he subsequently died as a result of asphyxiation.
Mrs Lucking said "This was no schoolboy prank. It was bullying by the defendant at the end of a course of bullying."
The court was told the two men had spent much of the evening drinking together in pubs and a night club in Louth town centre before Mr Woods returned alone to his terraced home.
However, Scott turned up in the early hours looking for a bed for the night and the incident that led to Richard's death followed soon afterwards.
David Nathan QC, mitigating for Scott, said hitting Mr Woods with the wood was not the direct cause of his death.
He said Scott had cleaned up his act in the last 12 months, living with his grandparents in an isolated part of Lincolnshire.