Connor and Brandon Doran were jailed for the murder of a rough sleeper months after brother Ryan suffered the same fate
(From left) Brandon Doran, Connor Doran and Ryan Doran (Image: Merseyside Police)
Two teenage boys who beat a vulnerable rough sleeper to death were arrested for his murder at the same time as their older brother was awaiting trial for a separate killing. Brothers Connor and Brandon Doran were aged 17 and 14 respectively when they, along with a friend, were convicted of the murder of dad Kevin Bennett.
The boys set upon Mr Bennett in the early hours of August 17, 2012 after the rough sleeper spent the night drinking in the Queens Arms’ pub in Walton. But at the time the two boys were hauled into be questioned by the police, their older brother Ryan, 23 at the time, was preparing to face the charge of murder at crown court in relation to a different, but no less vile and brutal, offence.
Ryan Doran launched an unprovoked attack on dad-of-one Wayne Mitchell as he walked home from the pub on Townsend Lane, Anfield, in March of the same year. By the time the younger brothers were sentenced, only the siblings’ younger sister was not behind bars after their mum, Linda, was jailed for providing them a false alibi and their other brother, Jordan, was sent down for taking pictures in the courtroom.
As part of a weekly series looking back at Merseyside’s criminal history, the ECHO has taken a closer look at the two cases and the impact the Doran brothers’ crimes had on their community.
Left to right: Brandon Doran, Simon Evans, Connor Doran
Connor and Brandon Doran and their friend Simon Evans, 14, were causing trouble around their Walton community when they found Kevin dozing in an alleyway behind an Iceland store on County Road at around 5am. Mr Bennett, 53, had been captured on CCTV leaving the pub in the early hours of the morning heading off with a plastic bag full of ale.
The boys approached the sleeping man when Connor, the leader of the group, dared Evans to “do him in”. Connor continued to goad him until he eventually gave in and began to kick the helpless man. Brandon served as a lookout as the attack intensified with Mr Bennett receiving heavy blows to his head and body.
Kevin Bennett murder CCTV still
After 20 minutes of sustained attack, the boys left Mr Bennett in the dirt, running away and laughing. The severely wounded man managed to make his way to the front of the supermarket before collapsing. Employees called the emergency services, with Mr Bennett succumbing to his injuries six days later after an infection took hold.
The boys never came forward voluntarily with the Doran brothers allegedly boasting of an attack to family members. Days later, Evans confessed to his mum that he and the two brothers were the ones responsible for Mr Bennett’s death. Court proceedings later heard that the Doran brothers’ mum Linda had provided a false alibi for her sons in the early stages of the police probe, delaying officers in apprehending the perpetrators.
At their trial, the three boys denied murder but were found guilty by a jury. The three boys’ identity was protected by a court order due to their ages but the judge ruled during their sentencing that it was in the public interest that they be named. “Leader of the pack” Connor Doran was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 12 years.
How the ECHO reported on the case at the time
Evans, described as a “model pupil” before he met the Dorans, was handed a sentence of eight years while Brandon Doran, who took no part in the violence itself but kept a watch while the attack took place was detained for six years.
The court heard the Dorans were a difficult bunch of children and their mum struggled to control. A judge later described her as a “pathetic and tragic character” who had shown herself to be “unwilling and unable to shoulder the responsibility of motherhood”. She was jailed for 31 months for giving the police a false alibi.
The Doran family’s lack of respect for the criminal proceedings was evident when their then 21-year-old brother, Jordan, was jailed for contempt of court for using a phone to snap images of the courtroom during the trial. Connor and Brandon showed no emotion during the sentencing, in stark contrast with Evans who reportedly broke down on hearing the time he was to serve, having finally come to terms with the consequences of his actions.
Wayne Mitchell who was murdered in Anfield
The year before the trial, Ryan Doran was jailed for life for a cold blooded murder of his own. The thug launched an unprovoked attack of 42-year-old groundsman Mr Mitchell who suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain. Passers-by called him an ambulance but he waved them away and tried to walk home.
However, he collapsed in an alley a few hundred yards away and died days later in hospital. Minutes after delivering the fatal blow, the attacker walked into the nearby International Chip Shop demanding tissues for a cut on his hand caused by the breaking bottle, before attacking customers and staff members.
Ryan Doran
He denied murder but was found guilty after a trial with the jury taking less than an hour to convict him. The court heard he had drunk 10 bottles of Budweiser, smoked cannabis and snorted cocaine when he attacked Mr Mitchell. He was handed a minimum term of 15 years and concurrent sentences for battery, racially aggravated assault and threats. A member of Mr Mitchell’s family shouted “scum” as he was led to the cells.
Simon Evans, the boy who assisted the younger Doran brothers, was later rewarded with a reduction to his jail term because of his “exceptional” behaviour behind bars. Speaking in 2018, senior judge Justice Cheema-Grubb said of the teenager: “I am sure that the time has come to mark this young man’s positive approach to his life, his commitment to the service of others and his willingness to take every possible step he can to achieve his long-term life goals without repeating the errors of his youth.” She cut a year off his prison sentence.
However, two years earlier, Brandon Doran wasn’t so lucky. He too applied for a cut to allow for an early chance of parole with his lawyers arguing he had shown himself to be a “decent prisoner”. But Justice McGowan took a different view, upholding the view that he had not done enough to justify cutting his minimum term.