Man jailed for killing fellow non-league footballer with single punch to the head in unprovoked attack
Family and friends left devastated by loss
Sentence handed out at Leeds Crown Court
Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱
WHAT HAPPENED?
Mckenzie Dicicco, 22, of Belgravia Gardens in Middlesbrough pleaded guilty to manslaughter on June 6 and was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on July 16. He will now be serving time behind bars.
His victim, 32-year-old James Hitchcock from Cottingham in East Yorkshire, was struck by a single punch in an unprovoked attack at York Station during a night out with friends on December 15, 2024.
WHAT THE VICTIM'S FAMILY SAID
Hitchcock, who played for Northern Counties East League Premier Division side Barton Town FC, died in hospital as a result of the injuries that he suffered. His family said after appearing in court that Mr Hitchcock "was, and is still, loved by many, and we know that his memory will live on through our son, family and friends, the football community, and in our hearts".
WHAT THE JUDGE SAID
Mr Hitchcock had been in York to watch a football match with friends. Judge Guy Kearl said of Dicicco's actions: 'It was a cowardly, deliberate and vicious attack on a man who had no chance to defend or brace himself. James was the life and soul of everything he did, he brightened up the room and was calm and gentle.'
Mr Hitchcock made more than 250 appearances as a goalkeeper for Bridlington Town before moving to Barton Town FC, with his former club left 'devastated' by his untimely death. Diccio was also a non-league footballer who spent time with Thornaby, Northallerton and Pickering.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Mike Johnson says Ghislaine Maxwell coming clean on Epstein case would be ‘a great service to the country'
Speaker Mike Johnson called on Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, to come clean and told Americans that he "hoped" she could be trusted as he faces the growing uproar around the White House's handling of the investigation. Johnson appeared Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, where moderator Kristen Welker asked him point-blank if the convicted sex-trafficker girlfriend of Epstein could be trusted to accurately testify about the crimes she and Epstein committed. Epstein was awaiting prosecution for sex trafficking underage girls after a previous conviction on similar charges when he died in federal custody. Maxwell has been thrust back into the spotlight as the MAGA base has grown frustrated with President Donald Trump and his administration's shutting down of the so-called Epstein files release. Last week, a top Department of Justice official met with Maxwell about the case. "Well, I mean, look; it's a good question. I hope so," Johnson told Welker in response. "I hope that she would want to come clean." "I hope she's telling the truth. She is convicted, she's serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking. Her character is in some if she wants to come clean now, that would be a great service to the country. We want to know every bit of information that she has." The House Oversight Committee voted this week to issue a subpoena for Maxwell after the Justice Department announced its own plans to speak with her. Agency officials did so for nine hours between Thursday and Friday, after making a statement seeming to confirm that her testimony hadn't been aggressively sought before. Some have called Maxwell to testify and suggested she should be given a pardon for sharing what she knows about the Epstein case. She was convicted of sexual abuse against minors and sex trafficking for helping Epstein carry out crimes. Johnson touted the Oversight subpoena favorably Sunday, casting it as evidence that GOP leadership supported efforts aimed at transparency. The Trump administration turned speculation about Epstein's death and the so-called 'Client List' of his co-conspirators into a raging wildfire in early July. The Justice Department and FBI published a joint memo explaining that future releases from the files would not take place, and that the list of Epstein's accomplices was not found. Epstein was rumored to have cultivated personal relationships with many powerful men and institutions. Critics of the president have alleged that a cover-up is in the works regarding the Epstein files. Democrats have hammered the president for his reversal, and a pair of scoops from the Wall Street Journal have reported on the president's connections to Epstein, to Trump's fury. The newspaper reported the contents of a message allegedly penned by Trump to Epstein as part of a 50th birthday celebration in 2003, including allusions to a shared 'secret' between them. Trump firmly denied authoring the note, and sued the Journal and its reporters in response. A second article from the Journal days later reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump in May that he was mentioned in the Epstein investigation multiple times, but it was not clear in what context. The White House called that story 'fake' and has repeatedly insinuated that Democrats including Joe Biden tampered with evidence while Trump was out of office. Being mentioned in the files does not mean wrongdoing, and hundreds of names are reportedly included. The lead GOP co-sponsor behind a House resolution that would force the Justice Department to release the entirety of its collected evidence related to Epstein said Sunday that his push was to help the convicted pedophile's victims and would only grow stronger in the coming weeks. Earlier on the same network, Rep. Thomas Massie appeared alongside the resolution's lead Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Ro Khanna, as the two promoted a resolution that would force Attorney General Pam Bondi to release 'all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials' related to the Epstein and Maxwell investigations. Massie told Welker that 'the release of the Epstein files is emblematic of what Trump ran for' and explained that the president's MAGA base expected results. 'There seems to be a class of people beyond the law, beyond the judicial all thought that when Trump was elected, he would be the bull in the china shop and break that all up,' said Massie. Massie went on to say that the Trump administration had lost his trust on the issue after publicly supporting transparency around the investigation, then doing an abrupt about-face. The administration is now calling on its supporters to move on from the issue and focus on hashing out issues with the 2016 'Russiagate' investigation instead of Epstein. Top administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, also spent months calling for the very releases the Justice Department says it won't authorize. 'People who were allegedly working on this weren't sincere in their efforts,' Massie said. 'Somebody should ask Speaker Mike Johnson, why did he recess Congress early so that he didn't have to deal with the Epstein issue?' 'Politics is the art of the doable. There's enough public pressure right now that we can get 218 votes and force this to a vote on the floor,' said Massie. He also firmly rejected a DOJ memo explaining the administration's position against further releases of information from the Epstein files, despite the very public promises of Bondi and others to do the opposite. In the memo, agency officials said that explicit imagery involving children was 'intertwined' throughout the files collected by the Justice Department. Some have said the files should not be released to protect sex-abuse victims of both Maxwell and Epstein. 'That's a straw man [argument],' Massie responded on Sunday, after Welker read part of the memo. 'Ro [Khanna] and I carefully crafted this legislation so that the victims' names would be redacted, and that no child pornography will be released.'
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ghislaine Maxwell talked about ‘100 different people' during DOJ's Epstein interview, lawyer says
Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex offender and former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, was 'asked about 100 different people' during her interview with the Department of Justice on Friday, her lawyer said. Maxwell, who is serving 20 years for sex trafficking at a federal prison in Florida, faced a second day of questioning from Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, about the Epstein case. 'Ghislaine answered every single question asked of her over the last day and a half, she answered those questions honestly, truthfully, to the best of her ability,' Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Markus, said Friday, outside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida. 'She was asked about maybe about 100 different people. She answered questions about everybody and she didn't hold anything back,' Markus said. 'She never invoked a privilege. She never refused to answer a question. So we're very proud of her.' Blanche interviewed Maxwell Thursday and Friday about others who may have 'committed crimes against victims' as part of the Department of Justice's re-examination of the government's investigation into the Epstein case which has generated much public scrutiny. The Trump administration is facing backlash from its MAGA base for refusing to release more information in the so-called 'Epstein Files.' Despite years of rumors about a so-called 'client list' of high-profile individuals who participated in alleged crimes that Epstein committed, the DoJ and FBI released a memo earlier this month saying no such list existed and no further investigations were warranted. During his brief press conference on Friday, Markus said Maxwell had been 'treated unfairly' for the past five years and that his client had cooperated with the DoJ in its questioning. He said Maxwell did not ask for anything in return, including a pardon. He did however, hint that the president could offer clemency. 'Listen, the president this morning said he had the power to do so. We hope he exercises that power in the right and just way,' Markus said. When asked about Maxwell's questioning Friday morning, President Trump tried to deflect attention away from the situation, encouraging people to 'focus on how well the country is doing.' Trump also said while he had the authority to pardon Maxwell he had not given it much consideration. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was investigated for conducting a years-long sex-trafficking scheme involving girls and women. Epstein died by suicide while in federal prison in 2019 before a trial could take place. Maxwell was investigated and convicted for her role in the scheme. So far, she's the only other person to be charged in connection to the Epstein case. Despite being found guilty, her attorneys have taken an appeal of her conviction to the Supreme Court. Many in Trump's MAGA base had bolstered conspiracy theories about those involved with Epstein, believing the government was covering-up details involving some of the high-profile individuals involved. Even senior members of his administration, such as FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, had spoken about their theories in the case before they took up their posts in the administration. But their sudden reversal once in office disappointed and outraged some MAGA supporters who accused them of continuing a government cover-up of information to protect those involved. The president has attempted to divert attention away from the Epstein Files, an effort that has appeared to backfire. In the weeks following the July 6 memo from the DoJ and FBI, a public spotlight has been cast on Trump's former relationship with Epstein. The president previously said the two were friends for many years, but he has denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes. Trump has not been accused of any formal wrongdoing or charged with a crime. Last week, a Wall Street Journal article reported that the president sent Epstein a lewd birthday card referencing 'secrets.' The president denied sending any card and filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Journal. Reports from CNN and the Journal also claimed that Bondi alerted Trump, in early spring, that his name appeared in the Epstein Files. Being mentioned in the files does not suggest any wrongdoing, and hundreds of other people were also named. The president denied to reporters earlier this month that his name was in the files. When asked if his name was in the files earlier this month, Trump claimed the Epstein Files were 'made up' by former FBI director James Comey, former president Barack Obama, and former president Joe Biden. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump says he could pardon Ghislaine Maxwell ‘but hasn't thought about it' as Epstein enabler meets with his former lawyer
President Donald Trump said Friday he has not thought about pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted enabler of financier sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — but noted that he could — as she prepares for a second consecutive day of questioning from his former attorney, who is now a top Justice Department official. 'I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I haven't thought about,' Trump told reporters outside the White House on his way to Scotland. Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is expected to continue interviewing Maxwell at a federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, near the federal prison where she is serving her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. Blanche, Trump's one-time personal lawyer, is there to see if she has additional information about the highly scrutinized case. The interview will be a continuation of his questioning of Maxwell — who is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted of grooming young women and girls for Epstein's sex-trafficking operation, that began on Thursday. It's unclear what exactly Blanche is asking Maxwell. The former socialite was the subject of an investigation that lasted at least six months, beginning in 2019, and culminated in her arrest in July 2020. She remained in custody prior to being found guilty of sex trafficking of a minor in December 2021. The top DOJ lawyer said he wanted to meet with Maxwell to discuss others who may have 'committed crimes against victims.' Maxwell's attorney, David Oscar Markus, declined to clarify what exactly Blanche had asked or what Maxwell had answered so far. However, he said his client answered 'all of the questions truthfully, honestly, and to the best of her ability.' 'He took a full day and asked a lot of questions,' Markus said. 'And Ms. Maxwell answered every single question. She never stopped, she never invoked a privilege. Never declined to answer.' It comes at a turbulent moment for the Trump administration, which has faced public uproar after the DoJ announced earlier this month that there would be no further disclosures from the so-called 'Epstein Files' about his sex trafficking scheme. Many in Trump's MAGA base had boosted conspiracy theories about those involved with Epstein, believed to be a network of high-profile individuals, including some in the government. Senior members of the administration, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, had previously made claims that there was more to the Epstein case than publicly disclosed. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was accused of child sex trafficking and running a decades-long scheme of sexually abusing women and girls. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while being held in federal jail. But the sudden reversal disappointed and outraged supporters. Some MAGA supporters and Democrats have accused Trump and officials in the administration of covering up information to protect those involved. The president angrily attempted to divert attention away from the Epstein Files, an effort that appeared to backfire. In the weeks following the July 6 memo, a public spotlight has been cast on Trump's former relationship with Epstein. The president previously said the two were friends for many years, but he has denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes. Trump has not been accused of any formal wrongdoing or charged with a crime. A recent Wall Street Journal article reported that the president sent Epstein a lewd birthday card referencing 'secrets.' The president denied sending any card and filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the WSJ. Reports from CNN and the WSJ also claimed that Bondi alerted Trump, in early spring, that his name appeared in the Epstein Files. Being mentioned in the files does not suggest any wrongdoing, and hundreds of other people were also named. The president denied to reporters earlier this month that his name was in the files. Trump has also claimed the Epstein Files were 'made up' by former FBI director James Comey, former president Barack Obama, and former president Joe Biden. The fallout over the Epstein Files has sent shockwaves throughout the Republican Party. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson sent Congress into an early summer recess to avoid a vote that would force the release of the files. On Friday, the president tried to divert attention away from the situation again, encouraging people to 'focus on how well the country is doing.'
