Murder victim Lucy McHugh's stepfather 'was attacked by two men'

Murder victim Lucy McHugh’s stepfather ‘was attacked by two men who broke his elbow, called him a paedophile and accused him of helping 13-year-old schoolgirl’s killer’

• Richard Elmes said he was left ‘scared and paranoid’ after being ‘attacked’ 
• Wayne Grant and Charlie Whitemore are accused of grievous bodily harm 
• Elmes claimed he was confronted by Whitemore outside a shop in Southampton

The stepfather of murdered schoolgirl Lucy McHugh has claimed he ‘had his elbow broken’ after an ‘old school mate called him a paedophile and accused him of helping the 13-year-old schoolgirl’s killer’.

Richard Elmes told a jury at Southampton Crown Court that he was left ‘scared and paranoid’, just two days after Stephen Nicholson was jailed for life with a minimum of 33 years for raping and murdering Lucy.

Mr Elmes, 33, said he had been outside Arrow News in Southampton on July 21 last year when the incident occurred.

Nicholson had been a friend of Mr Elmes and a lodger in the family home. The old school friend had highlighted that Mr Elmes had let him live in the family home, ‘insinuating that he was involved’, in Lucy’s murder.

Lucy’s stepfather Richard Elmes (left) who was attacked in the street, and paedophile lodger Stephen Nicholson (right) 

Lucy McHugh (pictured) died after being stabbed and slashed 27 times in a frenzied knife attack in Southampton, a court heard

Wayne Grant, 28, and Charlie Whitemore, 22, are accused of causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Elmes.

Mr Elmes, 23, said he left the shop, having bought two cans of Monster energy drink, when he was confronted by Whitemore, whom he had known since they were at school together.

Giving evidence by video-link, he told the court: ‘As I was leaving, Mr Whitemore came in and was recording on his phone and calling me a paedophile and telling me I had essentially helped and it was all my fault and various other things.

‘He was insinuating that I had involvement with that and it was my fault that it happened. It made me feel paranoid. Once that word is said, you can’t control members of the public around. It made me very scared and frightened for what might happen.’

He said Whitemore told him: ‘You let him in your house, you let it go on, it’s all your fault, you knew about it and permitted it. You are just as bad.’

In the video footage shown to the court, Whitemore is heard to say: ‘He let an unconsented relationship with a 12-year-old girl go on under his roof. You are a f****** paedophile.’

Lucy’s murder sparked ‘one of the biggest searches in criminal history’ with 200 officers pouring over more than 15,000 hours of CCTV 

The inquiry into Lucy’s death became one of the largest murder inquiries that Hampshire Police has seen over the years.

Hundreds of people worked on the over several months, putting together a ‘really comprehensive case’.

Some 200 officers were working at the height of the investigation, alongside a search team using additional resources from other police forces.

Additional investigators were also brought in from other police force.

Detectives poured over more than 15,000 hours of CCTV footage to try to identify Lucy, also Nicholson and any other witnesses.

The evidence collected against Nicholson was gained from ‘one of the biggest searches in criminal history’. 

Mr Elmes said he then hit Whitemore, and added: ‘I was scared for what might happen in the shop.

Once you have called someone a paedophile in public, there are certain repercussions that might come from that and I was just scared.’

He said Whitemore hit him back before Grant ‘came out of the shop and he dragged me away from the door of the shop and threw me on the floor’.

Mr Elmes said he felt ‘immense pain’ from the fall, in which he broke his elbow, and added that Grant, with whom he had previously worked, then ‘repeatedly punched’ him in the back of the head.

He said he tried to protect himself, adding: ‘I said they had got it wrong and I had nothing to do with it.’

Mr Elmes said that both he and his partner, Stacey White – Lucy’s mother – received abuse on social media because of their link with Nicholson, and that the abuse made him ‘upset, very annoyed and scared’.

He added that he had deactivated his Facebook account prior to the murder trial to avoid any abuse.

He said he had repeatedly received abuse in the street following the incident.

Both defendants deny grievous bodily harm but Whitemore has pleaded guilty to a charge of assault by beating in connection with the same incident.

The trial continues.

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