Rhys Burroughs Wiki

                    Rhys Burroughs Biography

Who is Rhys Burroughs?

Rhys Burroughs, 35, followed retired dockworker Clive Wyard, 74, on his 20-minute walk home from the Royal George pub and attacked him outside his bungalow on Valley Road, Ipswich, Suffolk in July 2018.

A career criminal has admitted to killing a grandfather during a botched heist while walking home from playing darts at his local pub.

A passerby found the retiree unresponsive and with serious head injuries in his driveway shortly before 7:15 a.m. m. the next day.

Mr Wyard, a father of three, was placed in an induced coma but died 12 days later at Ipswich Hospital.

Detectives initially said they were keeping an “open mind” about how he sustained his injuries. A year later, they said his death was being treated as murder following a “thorough investigation” by the Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Principal Investigation Team.

Arrest

Burroughs of Ipswich, who has 43 previous convictions, was arrested in 2019 and charged last year with murder and attempted robbery after forensic evidence linked him to the crime scene.

He denied wrongdoing and was due to stand trial this month, but admitted manslaughter and attempted robbery at a hearing at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday.

Attempt to murder charge

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton QC said the guilty pleas were acceptable and there was no need for a trial on the murder charge.

The court heard that Burroughs was currently serving an eight-year prison sentence imposed in April 2019 for stealing an elderly woman’s handbag and a robbery.

Judge Martyn Levett deferred sentencing until September 5 due to a report from the probation service to consider whether he should be considered a dangerous criminal. He warned Burroughs that he was facing a “very long prison sentence”.

Cause of death

A Suffolk Police statement said: “His guilty pleas are an admission that he assaulted and injured Mr. Wyard during an attempted robbery and, although he testifies that he did not intend to kill him, his actions that night were undeniably the cause of his death.”

Wyard had spent the night of 19 July 2018 chatting with friends and playing darts at the Royal George pub on Colchester Road, Ipswich, as he used to do on Thursday nights.

Quick Facts

• Rhys Burroughs, 35, killed Clive Wyard, 74, during a botched mugging
• The grandfather was attacked as he walked home from his Ipswich pub
• Father-of-three was put in an induced coma but died in hospital
• Burroughs admitted manslaughter and attempted robbery yesterday