Ex-Forest Bank prison officer found NOT GUILTY of murdering friend at his 40th birthday party
manchestereveningnews.co.ukA former prison officer has been found not guilty of murdering a friend on his 40th birthday. James Johnson, 29, claimed he feared he was going to be 'raped or sexually assaulted' by David Toulson, so put him in a 'guillotine chokehold' during the celebrations at a flat in Salford.
He then called 999 and told operators: “Someone tried to rape me and I’ve killed them’." He later added: “I think I’ve killed my friend.” Join our FREE Manchester Crime and Court WhatsApp group by clicking here Mr Toulson’s cause of death was found to be asphyxia, resulting from compression to the neck.
Manchester Crown Court previously heard Mr Johnson, who is a straight man; Mr Toulson, who was gay; and two women had been out celebrating Mr Toulson’s birthday on June 25 last year, in which they had been to a Bottomless Brunch drag event in the Canal Street area of the city centre. "A lot of alcohol and hi-jinks were undertaken by the foursome.
It was not unlike the sort of thing that might happen on a stag do or a hen night," prosecutor Andrew Ford KC said. One video clip shows Mr Toulson 'simulating oral sex over the defendant's jeans', the court was told.
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