Terence Gaskin, an 18 year old lad from Lancashire, is facing a prison sentence for manslaughter after punching 40 year old Kenneth Turnbull in the street, who then suffered some form of brain hemorrhage. From the Telegraph:

Gaskin crossed the road to punch him once in the face, knocking him over and cracking his head on the pavement. He was dead by the time the police arrived, CCTV footage shows the trio then pretending to police they were innocent bystanders concerned about a man who had collapsed.

Because Mr Turnbull, a self-employed kitchen fitter, showed no sign of injury, police did not treat his death as suspicious

After waking up with the mother of all hangovers, it appears Gaskin confessed what he had done to his mother who, being the supportive type, promptly called the police. Enter Detective Chief Inspector Neil Hunter, from Lancashire police:

“She was appalled by her son’s behaviour. She rang police who had started to put two and two together. His mother was key and it helped focus the investigation. It was very public spirited of her to do this.”

Cor Blimey. It’s lucky we’ve got stand-up chaps like DCI Neil Hunter about, isn’t it. I mean, imagine if our police force were entirely incompetant and unable to undertake basic detective work…

Let me get this completely straight: the police, despite having a CCTV footage showing two lads attacking a man who then died, were treating the death as ‘not suspicious’ until the lad responsible tearfully confessed what he had done to his mother. Even then, if she’d been a normal everyday protective mother, the crime may have gone entirely unreported.

All this time, police were “beginning to put two and two together”.

God knows what answer they would have come up with.