Portsmouth teenager who murdered Royal Navy veteran in gang attack back in court for prison assault

Lewis Hoare, 18 at the time, was jailed along side three other teenagers in 2007 for the savage gang attack on pensioner Brian Kitching at the Rock Gardens in Southsea.

Hoare and the gang dealt such horrific injuries to the 68-year-old after one of their number falsely claimed he was a paedophile that he died six months later.

When he fell unconscious the mob – high on drink and drugs – walked to the sea nearby and washed off his blood.

Keen fisherman Mr Kitching – known as Shipwreck to friends – suffered 18 fractures to his ribs, fractured eye sockets and brain damage in the attack on September 6, 2005.

Now Hoare – who was the only one of the gang to admit murder – has appeared at magistrates’ court admitting assaulting an emergency worker.

He was at Swindon Magistrates’ Court via video link from HMP Guys Marsh on Thursday having punched a guard in the face.

Hoare delivered an uppercut to the officer, who had been walking to an office at HMP Erlestoke in Wiltshire, on October 14 in 2019.

Magistrates imposed an eight-week jail term – but that will run alongside his life sentence for the murder.

When he was jailed in 2007 he was ordered to serve at least eight years – a reduction having given evidence against his co-killers.

When interviewed about the prison guard assault, Hoare claimed his friend at the jail had taken his own life after bullying from prison officers and other inmates had been bullied by the officer, the Wiltshire Times reports.

He said he had been bullied in his life and ‘wouldn’t tolerate it now’ so decided to act.

Mr Ballinger said Hoare was last in trouble for assaulting a prison guard in November 2019.

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Mitigating, Liz Highams asked the magistrates to impose a short custodial sentence, as her client was a serving prisoner.

Sentencing Hoare to eight weeks’ imprisonment, chairman of the bench Maryanne Burton said: ‘You’ve pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity for this offence and we are going to deal with it this afternoon.

‘We are going to deal with it having taken into consideration your early guilty plea and the fact you are a serving prisoner.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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