Killer avoided jail after rifle rampage

A murderer who bludgeoned a dad to death avoided jail five years before when he went on a rampage with a rifle.

Callous killer Daniel Dodsworth was sentenced to life in prison this week after he was found guilty of murdering Alan Youngson.

The 25-year-old Scot died from massive head injuries after Dodsworth smashed a claw hammer into the back of his head at least six times.

Dodsworth tried to escape justice by burying pal Alan’s body in woodland near his home in Darlington.

But his plan backfired when Alan’s dad discovered his son’s corpse two months after the killing in 2013.

It has now emerged Dodsworth, 29, avoided jail in 2009 after terrifying his then girlfriend with an air rifle in a drunken rage at their home.

Teesside Crown Court was told he drank eight cans of lager and a bottle of wine before firing shots at a door, wall and sofa. He then goaded her to shoot him in the face.

Dodsworth expected to be jailed for breaching a suspended prison sentence during the case but the judge spared him jail after hearing his daughter suffered from a rare terminal genetic disease.

However, just five years after his narrow escape, Dodsworth was this week convicted of murdering Alan after another night of heavy drinking.

Alan had moved to Darlington from his home town of Hamilton.

Last night, Alan’s sister, Pamela, said: “He murdered my brother. He buried Alan’s body and carried on his life while we searched in desperation.

“We will remember our memories of Alan and try and turn something negative into a positive.”

Dodsworth, who has a number of previous convictions for violent assaults, killed Alan in a drunken rage in the early hours of August 16.

The men had spent the evening drinking together in the dining room of Dodsworth’s house in Darlington.

Dodsworth used a neighbour’s wheelie bin to take Alan’s body to woodland where he buried it under soil, concrete, glass, and a boulder.

In a statement read out in court, Alan’s mother, Michelle, said: “He treated my son like he was a piece of garbage that he could dispose of in a rubbish bin. Alan isn’t a piece of rubbish, he is my son.”

Alan’s father, David, said: “Dodsworth not only killed Alan, he killed me inside.”