Hartlepool axe murderer fails in attempt to reduce life sentence

Anthony Middleton was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 23 years in 2014 for the murder of Mark Denton, a former promising boxer.

Middleton and his half brother David Sowerby attacked Mr Denton with an axe in front of numerous horrified witnesses at a New Year’s Eve house party in Hutton Avenue in 2013.

Sowerby, who had a grievance with Mr Denton, who was 31, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 27 years.

Last week, after serving seven and a half years, Middleton now aged 29, tried to get his jail term reduced.

But an application by him for leave to appeal the sentence was refused by the Court of Appeal.

Mr Denton suffered more than 50 injuries in the prolonged attack and a paramedic who responded said they were the worst he had ever seen.

He suffered massive blood loss and went into cardiac arrest in an ambulance on the way to hospital.

The trial judge said Middleton, formerly of Bruntoft Avenue, Hartlepool, had got “sucked into your older brother’s mindlessly stupid desire for revenge”.

Sowerby was on the lookout for Mr Denton after he had knocked Sowerby out at another party two months previously.

Just the day before the attack, Sowerby quoted a line from violent gangster film Casino on his Facebook page directed at Mr Denton when he talked of cracking his skull.

After the murder Sowerby and Middleton were driven away by car when they boasted about what they had done.

They washed and burned their clothes and disposed of the axe.

Many of the traumatised partygoers needed counselling.

Mr Denton’s family said after the trial that his death had left a hole in their lives that could never be filled.

People convicted of crimes normally have 28 days to decide if they wish to lodge an appeal.

Even if leave to appeal had been granted, Middleton would have had to prove the original sentence was wrong in law, wrong in principle or excessive.

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