Three men who committed a series of violent robberies in Bournemouth have admitted manslaughter against one of their victims.
Damien Sean Johnson, 31, of Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, Hayden Johnson, 29, also of Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, and Dominic Macdonald, 30, of St John’s Road, Bournemouth, entered guilty pleas to the manslaughter of Michael Bastable, 56, on Friday 8 July 2022 at Winchester Crown Court.
The three defendants also admitted robbery charges in connection with the incident involving Mr Bastable and a second incident on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. On Friday, 21 January 2022, Damien and Hayden Johnson both entered guilty pleas to a third robbery.
They will be sentenced in court on Friday, July 15, 2022.
At 3.03pm on Friday 14 January 2022, Dorset Police received a report from a member of the public who discovered Mr Bastable’s unresponsive body in an alleyway off Shelbourne Road that runs parallel to the A338 Wessex Way.
Mr Bastable was sadly pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. The ambulance service’s tests revealed that he had suffered a gastro-intestinal bleed, with the only sign of external trauma being a swollen lip.
Initially, the death was not considered suspicious; however, on Sunday, January 16, 2022, police were notified by the victim’s brother that he had gone to Mr Bastable’s address and discovered his bike had gone missing. He had also returned to the scene where his brother was discovered and discovered items in the area that he thought belonged to his brother.
Following the discovery that the victim’s bank card had been used after his death, detectives from Dorset Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team launched a full investigation (MCIT).
They were able to piece together the victim’s movements prior to his death and the defendants’ movements around the same time. They obtained CCTV footage that showed Mr Bastable walking toward the alleyway shortly before 3 p.m., followed by the three defendants.
More video shows the defendants leaving the alleyway, with Hayden Johnson riding a bicycle.
At 3.40pm on the same day, Hayden Johnson brought a Scott mountain bike into Cash Generator on Christchurch Road and sold it for £100.
On Wednesday, January 19, 2022, around 9.15 p.m., a man answered a knock on the door at his Christchurch Road address and saw the Johnson brothers, whom he knew, and a third unknown man.
The men assaulted the victim and stole £460 in cash.
Two days later, three men assaulted another man in the basement of an address on Christchurch Road. He was hit with a baseball bat, and the thieves took his watch and wallet.
CCTV footage of the incident helped identify the Johnson brothers. The following day, Hayden Johnson sold a watch that matched the one stolen during the robbery at Cash Generator.
Mr Bastable died from injuries to his stomach area consistent with being repeatedly stamped or jumped on while lying on his back on the ground, according to a forensic post-mortem performed on Wednesday, January 26.
The three defendants were apprehended on Wednesday, January 26 and Thursday, January 27, 2022.
“We carried out a comprehensive investigation with a meticulous review of vast amounts of CCTV footage to piece together the movements of these three men in the moments leading up to and following the sad death of Michael Bastable,” MCIT Detective Inspector Wayne Seymour said.
We were able to prove through this work that these men worked together to target Mr Bastable and subject him to a violent robbery that resulted in his death.
We were also able to gather evidence to prove their involvement in subsequent robberies, which were also violent and extremely distressing for the victims.”
Our thoughts remain with Mr Bastable’s family, and I’d like to thank them for their assistance throughout our investigation and the court process.
