Begging mum told judge her son 'loved her brother' - after he had killed him

The mum of a violent man who killed her brother begged a court to show leniency. Liam Elms left his vulnerable uncle, Paul Lavery, dying in the street after he had thrown him around his flat "like a rag doll" - then tried to lie to police about what happened.

Mr Lavery, 58, suffered a bleed on the brain in the attack in January this year and died a week later. Elms, who was Paul's carer as well as his nephew, was found not guilty of murder following a trial but appeared before Liverpool Crown Court on Friday (September 20) to be sentenced for manslaughter.

Elms' mum Christine Lavery, who was Paul's sister, told the court her son "loved my brother Paul and I am shocked he would hurt him in this way", the Liverpool Echo reports.

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She said: "Please show leniency and take into account the years Liam cared for him with love." During proceedings, defence counsel Michael Brady KC told the court: "However appalling his behaviour was that night, we ask the court to see the genuine bond of love and affection that the defendant cared for his uncle with for a long period of time, willingly and well, in very, very trying circumstances."

Mr Brady said the incident lacked premeditation and was instead a "spontaneous event that arose from the defendant's excessive consumption of alcohol". He added: "The defendant is very acute to the pain and suffering he has caused. Because of his drunken behaviour he is responsible for his uncle's death."

However in his sentencing comments, His Honour Judge Brian Cummings KC told the defendant there was "a clear abuse of trust" during the attack. He told the defendant, who appeared via video link to HMP Altcourse: "You were aware of his poor health because you were his carer and lived with him for a portion of each week."

The judge said what followed was a concerning attack given the victim's poor health, before Elms "quite callously dumped him out in the cold and did nothing to seek assistance for him". The judge decided it was necessary to give Elms an extended sentence due to his dangerousness. Elms was jailed for 14 years with another four on an extended licence.

Elms arrested the night Paul was found injured

Peter Glenser KC told jurors during the prosecution's opening last month: "On the 24th of January this year, the police received a telephone call stating that there was a man in pain outside 397A Eaton Road and that that man did not appear to be able to get up. It was the early hours of the morning on a January evening, and that call gave cause for concern.

"They arrived on the scene and found someone called Paul Lavery, who was without his shoes and had cuts and fresh blood on his head. They immediately assumed he had been the victim of an assault. They set about summoning assistance and tending to Mr Lavery. As they did so, the defendant in this case opened the window of the flat he was in, which was just above where everybody was, and started to shout abuse at the injured man as well as being abusive towards police officers.

"He appeared to the police to be very drunk. He said he was the carer for the injured male, who was his uncle. He told his uncle to f*** off and said he couldn't come back inside the property. Unsurprisingly, the police decided to speak to Mr Elms.

"They went upstairs and knocked on the door. Mr Elms refused to open the door, instead kicking at it from the inside. He would not talk to the police at first, but then became increasingly aggressive and threatening. When he did eventually open the door, he did so with a bottle in his hand.

"A decision was made to arrest him for assaulting his uncle. You will hear some detail about how difficult it was to arrest him and his attitude and demeanour on that night. Meanwhile, the police had spoken to someone called Deborah McKay. She said she had been in the flat. She is a friend of Mr Lavery's, and she had seen the assault on Paul Lavery by Liam Elms. She heard him say he was going to kill him. Mr Elms was arrested for attempted murder.

"She was to describe Mr Lavery as having been thrown around like a rag doll inside the flat. She described him being hit with an open hand in a slap and also, and perhaps of some importance, that he was dragged down the stairs feet first. So, as he was taken and dumped outside like rubbish, you might think, his head hit every step on the way down the stairs."

Mr Lavery was rushed to the Royal Liverpool Hospital before being transferred to the Walton Centre, having suffered a "serious head injury and a large bleed on the brain". Mr Glenser continued: "Mr Elms, as you know, was Mr Lavery's carer.

"As such, he would have been aware that he was not in good health. In particular and significantly, he had previously had brain surgery. He was vulnerable. Mr Lavery was operated on, but never recovered consciousness. He died in hospital on the 31st of January of this year."

'Elms tried to lie his way out'

A post-mortem investigation later found that he had suffered "extensive injuries", which also included fractures to bones within his neck. These were described as being "highly suspicious of forceful squeezing", with the Home Office pathologist's findings said to have been "consistent with a violent assault that involved more than one impact to the head".

The court heard Mr Lavery died of a very significant bleed on the brain. Mr Glenser said: "Given the circumstances, including the witness testimony, it seems rather implausible that it was as a result of some other unrelated incident such as an accidental fall. It has to be considered likely that the death was as a result of this assault.

"The crown says that this defendant lost his temper. He hit him, he put his hands to his throat in a choking or strangling way then dragged him out by his feet, causing his head to hit the stairs." Elms gave a prepared statement under interview alleging he "had not assaulted Mr Lavery".

He tried to claim his uncle's head injury was self-inflicted when he accidentally hit it on a radiator. He then claimed he had attempted to convince his uncle - who had undergone a brain operation in late 2023 - to go to hospital.

When his uncle refused, Elms reported that he lashed out and "back handed" him across the face. He added: "He wanted to keep carrying on drinking. We argued over it. I slapped him in the face. [His nose] was bleeding." Elms added: "I can't justify it, what I done. I loved him."

He denied dragging his uncle feet first downstairs and said that he had simply fallen over when leaving the flat, after which he had carried him down the stairs before leaving him outside. Elms claimed that he had intended to call an ambulance but ultimately did not "because the police turned up".

Mr Glenser told the court today the defendant had "a history of drug offending and violence towards police officers". These included convictions for actual bodily harm in 2010 and assaulting an emergency worker in 2015, as well as possession of drugs including crack cocaine and heroin, with some convictions dating back to the early years of the century.

Mr Glenser said there were a number of aggravating factors in the case, including the fact Elms intimidated witness Ms McKay and that the offence was committed under the influence of alcohol. However, the prosecutor said the biggest aggravating factor was the fact Elms was supposed to be a carer for his vulnerable uncle. Mr Glenser said: "He was supposed to be his carer, but at the end, his carer he was not."

Sentencing Elms, formerly of Whiston Lane in Huyton, the judge said the influence of alcohol was one of a number of aggravating factors, also taking into account Elms' history of violence and his abuse of his uncle's trust. He added there was little mitigation in way of remorse, "as remorse is accepting what you have done but you never accepted more than a fraction of your offending and tried to lie your way out".