Three heartless teenagers who brutally killed a loving dad before pushing his body into a canal have been jailed.
The body of Scott Anderton, 33, from Leigh, Greater Manchester, was found floating in the Leeds and Liverpool canal in his home town on the morning of March 25.
Mr Anderton was knifed 35 times and suffered chop and stab wounds that covered his body from the top of his head to his shins.
Liam Bailey, 19, had pleaded guilty to the murder of Mr Anderton, while Harry Maher, 16, was found guilty by a jury of the same charge and Liam O'Brien, 17, was convicted of manslaughter.
Jailing the trio, Judge Alan Conrad said the 'scale and savagery' of their attack 'almost defies belief'.
In harrowing footage released by detectives, the three killers can be seen walking with the "vulnerable" man moments before they viciously attacked him.
The thugs, dressed in black coats and with their hoods up, lured Mr Anderton to a secluded stretch of canal, off King Street.
At 4.30am ripples on the surface of the water indicated when Mr Anderton entered the canal after the attack.
The dad was knifed 35 times before he was thrown into the water while still alive. As he desperately clung to life and the banks of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the attackers continued their sickening assault.
Mr Anderton's body was discovered floating in the canal just hours later.
A post-mortem examination found '35 separate, sharp force injuries' across Mr Anderton's body, as well as blunt force trauma injuries to his head.
Manchester Crown Court heard Mr Anderton had the "tragic misfortune" to run into the defendants shortly after he was seen on CCTV walking through Leigh town centre at about 4am, with a plastic carrier bag, wearing a bobble hat and only one shoe.
During a five week trial, it was heard that Bailey and O'Brien had returned to the scene of the crime later that morning and filmed the police cordon.
One video recovered from Bailey's phone showed police vehicles at the scene accompanied by O'Brien's voice saying 'Hot in Leigh Town'. A second video - found on O'Brien's phone - was 'decorated with clouds and a rainbow with a caption saying, 'Good Vibes'.
After murdering Mr Anderton, Maher made an internet search enquiring, 'How long do u get for a murder'.
The three teenagers targeted the 33-year-old - who one later described as 'a complete stranger' - after they found him alone in Leigh town centre during the early hours of the morning.
Just minutes earlier, Mr Anderton had been captured on CCTV footage walking through Leigh bus station carrying a plastic bag and wearing only one shoe.
Sentencing the trio, Judge Alan Conrad QC told the trio: "This is a truly horrific case. The scale and savagery of the violence used almost defy belief.
"It is all the more shocking bearing in mind the youth of those involved.
"Scott Anderton suffered 35 sharp force wounds, some of them penetrating deep and some even cutting bone, as well as a number of blunt force injuries.
"Having been so terribly injured he was thrown into the canal while he was still alive. While he was in there you watched him struggle for life, taunted him, and let him die.
"You went back an hour later to see what you had done - and then after a trip into Manchester returned to observe and film the police activity, glorying in what you had done."
Bailey, Maher and O'Brien were arrested by police in the early hours of March 26.
Jurors also convicted Bailey of the attempted robbery of another man in the hours before murdering Mr Anderton.
He also admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and inflicting grievous bodily harm on a man who suffered life-changing injuries following an attack on September 1, 2020.
Jurors found O'Brien guilty of inflicting bodily harm on the same man.
On Friday, a statement was read out on behalf of Mr Anderton's grandmother Irene Anderton, who he lived with for much of his life.
She spoke of the toll his murder had taken on his family, how she had 'fought off tears' every day in court, and how his eight-year-old nephew can now no longer sleep at night after they used to 'chat for hours' at her home.
Ms Anderton added: "Scott lacked self-esteem, but his heart was as big as the sun."
In another statement Mr Anderton's dad, who worked with his son and saw him the day before his murder, told his killers: "My family have been left with a life sentence."
Bailey was sentenced to life in custody with a minimum term of 23 years and four months.
Maher was also jailed for life and must serve at least 16 years before he is eligible for parole.
O'Brien was ordered to serve 10 years in prison.
Judge Alan Conrad QC lifted reporting restrictions on the juveniles.
Following sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Liz Hopkinson said: "This was an extremely violent, callous and unprovoked attack that cost a man his life.
"They showed absolutely no remorse for their heinous actions, ignoring his cries for help, before watching him die in the canal.
"In a final act of evil they then returned to the scene of the crime to take videos.
"Thankfully due to the extensive CCTV inquiries we were able to quickly pinpoint their movements that evening and morning and established that all three of them had been with the victim and were involved in his death."
