A County Durham man has been jailed for six years after killing his biological father on Christmas Eve, just hours after learning his identity for the first time.
Martin Greensmith, 37, had never met Steven Shevels before encountering him at a Christmas drinks gathering at the Queen’s Head pub in Willington.
During the event, Greensmith’s mother told him that Mr Shevels, 61, was his father. Greensmith, of Crook, told him: “You’re my dad but I don’t want to know you.”
The pair exchanged words before Greensmith went outside. Mr Shevels, who had been drinking, was later asked to leave the pub and followed him into the beer garden.
A further argument took place outside, during which Greensmith delivered what prosecutors described as a “powerful and aggressive push” to Mr Shevels’s upper body.
Mr Shevels fell backwards and struck his head on concrete paving. CCTV footage captured the incident, while one witness described the impact as being “like dropping a coconut on concrete”.
Greensmith and others attempted to resuscitate him. Emergency crews continued working on Mr Shevels for more than an hour before he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Greensmith claimed at trial that he had used only a “gentle push” in self-defence. A jury rejected his account and convicted him of manslaughter at Teesside Crown Court last month.
Judge says Greensmith was ‘immediately angry and aggressive’
Sentencing him at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday, Judge Jonathan Carroll said Greensmith’s conduct had been “immediately angry and aggressive”.
The judge said: “You were with your family on what should have been a convivial Christmas drink, sadly that was not to be.”
He said Mr Shevels had entered the pub after drinking and had initially been involved in only minor exchanges before sitting near Greensmith’s party.
“You were told by your mother that Mr Shevels was your father, you did not know this before,” Judge Carroll said. “He said something that you objected to and having viewed CCTV footage I am satisfied so I am sure that you were immediately angry and aggressive, your face, body language and hand signals make that clear.”
Greensmith had told the trial that he did not want a relationship with his father, saying: “In 36 years he’s never made an attempt to do anything.”
His barrister, Paul Rooney, said Greensmith was “genuinely remorseful”. A pre-sentence report found that he may have felt “overwhelmed” by discovering Mr Shevels was his father.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Shevels’s daughter Chloe described him as “a quiet and timid man” who loved nature and rock music.
She said she learned of his death through gossip while opening presents on Christmas Day, adding: “I now dread the thought of Christmas.”
Mr Shevels’s sister, Angela Thompson, said he had been “the victim of an unprovoked and selfish act of violence, which took his life and took him from us far too soon”.
She added: “It’s bad enough this happened, but for it to have happened on Christmas Eve makes it a lot worse.”
