Wigan: Father attacked man with machete after blaming him for son’s death

A man has been left millimeters from death after facing a revenge attack from a grieving father, a court has heard.

Samson Price, 48, brought a machete to Patrick Brown outside a PureGym in Northwich, Cheshire, after chasing him with a tracker in September 2021.

He blamed Brown for the death of his son Samson Price Jr., 18, who drowned in a pond in Wigan a year earlier after it was believed he had taken LSD.

Police concluded his death was an accident, but his father refused to accept it and grew resentful after Brown and two others were released without charge.

At the opening of the trial, a jury overheard Price lying in wait outside the gym before raining five to six punches on his victim.

Before the attack, he had purchased a 16-inch machete and an electronic tracking device, which he used to locate Brown.

When they confronted him outside the gym, jurors overheard Price chasing Brown as he yelled “I’ll kill you” while his victim pleaded for mercy and claimed he “did nothing.”

Brown was “millimeters from death” after sustaining wounds to his head, face, back, one of his arms and his right leg.

One of the blows severed his femur and narrowly missed a major artery – causing him to bleed to death within minutes, doctors said.

Price ran away after the attack and was at large for three weeks before finally turning himself in at a Yorkshire police station, the court heard.

Prosecutor Simon Mills said: “Samson Price planned to kill Patrick Brown and he came very close to succeeding.

“Patrick Brown’s survival was a matter of sheer luck and prompt medical care.”

Mr Mills said that Price and his wife Rosanna “made it clear to police that they believed those arrested were responsible for their son’s death”.

He said that the “understandable grief and raw emotions of a grieving mother and father” were shown in messages the couple exchanged in the weeks leading up to the attack.

Price told his wife he considered himself dead after the death of his son.

He wrote: “These feelings are the hardest to deal with. Nothing brings him back. It’s the futility, the unfairness and the injustice of it.’

His wife wrote back: “We should be rowing and worrying about him going to all these festivals. I can’t imagine that he’s not here and I’ll never hear his voice.’

Price added: “We have nothing left to look forward to. I consider myself dead with Samson and honestly I don’t care what happens to me.’

The defendant admitted to intentionally causing serious bodily harm, but pleaded not guilty to attempted murder. The process goes on.

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