Man who killed his dad after 'evil drug' binge jailed
Peter McGarry said "Are you kidding me?" after being told he'd fatally attacked his father, Malcolm
Police have released the image of a Nottinghamshire man who killed his father after apparently mistaking him for an intruder.
Peter McGarry has now been jailed for the “unthinkable” murder of his disabled dad, Malcolm, 76.
McGarry, of Alexandra Street, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, attacked Malcolm at his home in Northfields Close, Sutton, after binging on cocaine and alcohol.
Officers found Mr McGarry unconscious with serious head and facial injuries after being called in the early hours of December 1.
Despite CPR being administered, Malcolm was declared dead at the scene.
When officers arrested McGarry, 53, and told him he was being arrested on suspicion of murdering his father, he replied: “My dad? Are you kidding?”
McGarry, pictured below, pleaded guilty to murder in April and was sentenced to life in prison at a sentencing hearing on Friday, August 2.
He will serve a minimum term of 14 years and 123 days, reflecting the time he has already spent in custody.
During the hearing, Nottingham Crown Court was told McGarry was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol at the time of the incident and he believed he’d attacked a drug-dealing intruder.
James Horne KC, mitigating, said his client expressed “disbelief” following the killing, adding he’d had a “loving and close relationship” with his father and that they’d been watching football together in the hours leading up to the “unthinkable” incident.
Mr Horne added: “He has a deep and profound regret over what happened. The sense of loss he feels in that regard is compounded by the fact he is responsible for it.”
A post-mortem examination found Mr McGarry – who was partially paralysed having suffered a stroke in 2013 – sustained a severe and traumatic brain injury along with multiple facial injuries, having been repeatedly kicked and punched by his son.
Gordon Aspden KC explained how Malcolm’s fiancée, Ruth Todd, sensed something was wrong on the evening of 30 November 2023, having not heard from him all day.
She spoke to McGarry, her stepson, on the phone later that night and he told her he was with his father, who had been beat up.
Ms Todd took a taxi to the premises along with her son and his friend, where they found Malcolm, pictured below, severely injured on the living room floor at approximately 12.45am.
Mr Aspden said: “The scene itself was truly grotesque and macabre. There was a large amount of blood and the defendant seemed to be under the influence of drink and / or drugs. He was incoherent and aggressive, and told officers the deceased was not his father. He seemed to be under the impression that the deceased was an intruder.
“It’d been a truly savage beating with fatal consequences.”
In a victim impact statement, Ms Todd said: “The effect that Malcolm’s death has had on my family and I is indescribable. My son and I walked into Malcolm’s bungalow that night and saw him on the floor with the injuries that Peter had inflicted upon him.
“We have both been having flashbacks of that image and I have been struggling to sleep. I don’t want to leave the house anymore and it has left me feeling very depressed.
“I just miss him as he meant so much to me.”
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Stuart Rafferty KC told McGarry he had carried out a “savage attack” on a man who “never showed you a scrap of unkindness”.
He added: “It is almost impossible to believe that anyone could become so affected by alcohol and drugs as to cease to recognise the same person that they had been in a room with, forgetting who that person was in terms of his appearance and his personage, and embark on a lethal attack, which is what happened in this case.
“It was an avoidable death and you have deprived yourself and, more importantly, other people of a man of value and great esteem. On this night you exploded.
“Some people think cocaine is a social drug you can take, put down and not be affected by. If this case serves any purpose at all, it is to again point out to people – both those selling it and those stupid enough to take it and become addicted to it – that cocaine is an awful and evil drug.
“Without it, you would not be here.”