'Chilling' celebration of Workington thugs after horrific violence

On a deserted Workington street, a CCTV camera picks up two men walking jauntily along a residential road, deep in conversation. They seem animated, excited almost.

Momentarily, one of the men turns to his friend and “high-fives” him before briefly hugging him, as if in celebration. You'd be forgiven for thinking this video clip shows friends in high spirits after a New Year's party.

You'd be wrong: the reality is far more chilling.

That was the word used by a judge to describe this 12-second clip (see below) and what it shows: two thugs, congratulating each other for attacking two defenceless men, leaving both with life-changing injuries.

The violence last year had a devastating impact on the victims of the men seen in the video, David Ratcliffe, 34, and Jamie Elston, 32. Their attack began as the victims slept, oblivious to the danger. 

Repeatedly kicked in the head and body, the victims could easily have died.

One sustained a brain injury so severe that he is now - 15 months after the attack - in a persistent vegetative state, confined to a hospital bed, fed through a tube, unable to walk or talk.

His friend was blinded in one eye. 

Just hours before they were targeted, the friends were relaxing at the Workington property where one of them lived, raising a glass as they chatted amicably before messaging family and friends.

They no doubt talked of their hopes and dreams for the year ahead.

Whatever those dreams may have been, they were brutally shattered. The two friends did not know it but the first few hours of 2022 were to end in an agonising blur as they were subjected to horrific violence. 

Having fallen asleep in the living room, they were woken at 3.30am to be confronted by Elstson and Ratcliffe, both high on booze, cocaine, and determined to seriously hurt the two men. 

For more than an hour, Ratcliffe and Elston meted out savage treatment to their helpless victims, punching and kicking them so ferociously that the living room walls and furniture were left splattered with blood.

Even as their victims lay dazed and injured, the thugs threatened them, saying they would torch the home of their parents if either man spoke to the police. By the time help arrived, one victim was unconscious, slumped on a chair.

His friend, sprawled across the sofa, was barely conscious. The two attackers showed no emotion as Carlisle Crown Court heard about their drink and drug fuelled orgy of violence that night.

Both Ratcliffe and Elston were drinking throughout New Year’s Eve, the court heard. They also took cocaine.

The only significant link between the victims and the attackers, suggested prosecutor Brendan Burke, was that each man had been in relationships with former partners of Ratcliffe and Elston.

Mr Burke said the violence may have resulted from the attackers believing their 'fragile sense of masculinity' was in some way offended by the victims.

The full story will probably never be known.

Neither Ratcliffe (left) nor Elston showed any emotion as they heard about the devastating impact of their violence. (Image: Cumbria Police)

Judge Ian Unsworth KC described what happened when the two attackers forced their way into the property as their victims slept. The men were taken completely be surprise, the court heard.

He said: “You Elston said to Ratcliffe: ‘Go get a knife; we might as well kill them now.’ You picked up a vacuum cleaner and smashed it between the two men. You then engaged in horrific and sustained violence during which your victims were repeatedly kicked to their heads and bodies...

“To repeatedly kick someone and to do so to their head clearly aggravates matter and evinces an intention to cause really serious harm and, as transpired, it had that direct effect.”

As Ratcliffe kicked and punched one of the men, he said: “You shouldn’t have went near her.” The man later told police he feared he and his friend were going to be killed.

The judge then addressed Elston, telling him: “You showed no mercy to [your victim], kicking him to the head and body. Some 15 months later he has not been able to utter a word of what you did to him.

"You were and still are without compassion.”

During a pause in the violence, Elston pulled the man he attacked to a sitting position and said “You don’t know me, do you?’ The man replied ‘Jamie’, as he had heard Mr Ratcliffe refer to him that way during the attack.

Elston replied “No it isn’t. You don’t remember us." The two attackers also used a hammer to smash their victims’ mobile phones so that they could not summon the help they so desperately needed.

After making the threat about torching the home of the men’s parents if they spoke to the police, Ratcliffe smashed a coffee table and ripped out the ceiling light, plunging the room into darkness.

The Elston and Ratcliffe then resumed the attack. They left the house at 5.07am, leaving the two men unconscious inside.

The judge told the defendants: “Behind you [one victim] was face down over an armchair and [the other] was face up on a sofa. The font door was unhinged. You left via a side alley no doubt not wanting to be seen leaving the property.”

Judge Unsworth went on to outline how CCTV images captured the behaviour of Elston and Ratcliffe as they made their getaway.

“Knowing what you had done,” said the judge, “in a quite breath-taking, chilling, and sickening image, you could be seen hugging and congratulating each other, in high spirits, your brutal work done.

"You evinced pleasure from the pain and suffering you had inflicted.

“Neither of you lifted a finger to help your victims. You probably thought that you had got away with it. Your two victims were found the next morning [by concerned neighbours]. The house was in disarray.

“There was blood on the front door and walls.”

Police body-worn video footage showed one victim was still unconscious, and the other man barely conscious. Such was the violence inflicted on his head that it ballooned, the court heard.

A woman who knew Ratcliffe heard about the attack and phoned him. When challenged about it, he said: “Yeah, I punched [his] face in.” The woman said he seemed pleased with himself, seemingly unconcerned about the physical damage he had caused.

The court then heard about those injuries.

The most seriously injured man was airlifted to hospital, where he underwent emergency brain surgery before being put on a life support machine.

One of the victims was airlifted to hospital, the court heard

His communication is now restricted to blinking when asked questions. Plans are being drawn up to move him to a hospice. A victim impact statement said his grandmother, to whom he was close, is finding it hard to accept he may not come home.

The man’s father recalled the 'horrible' moment he first say his son in hospital, barely able to believe it was the same person.

“We talk to him, hold his hands, and sometimes he looks at us.. We just sit and talk to him, with his eyes closed.

“We don’t know if he can hear us. Sometimes he might glance at us; sometimes his eyes are open and he just looks away.” The family said they did not want to go to the sentencing hearing because it would be too upsetting.

The second victim said the attack had changed his life in the most profound way, leaving him at 'rock bottom'.

“My face was like a balloon,” he said. “I’m now permanently blind in one eye and I have visible scarring.”

Plagued by nightmares, he has had re-learn how to do things, and he now finds it hard to be around other people.

Declaring both defendants to be dangerous offenders, Judge Unsworth told them: “This was a brutal joint attack on two wholly innocent men. The victims of your abhorrent and merciless crimes suffered devastating injuries...

"The result of what you jointly did was to alter the course of your victim’s lives forever. You were each intent on very serious violence and you each sought to ensure that your victims would not be able to summon help, deliberately smashing their mobile telephones.”

The judge commented also on the video clip, describing the images as "sickening and chilling". "You are seen hugging and congratulating each other in high spirits, your brutal work done."

They were clearly taking pleasure from the pain they infliced, said the judge. 

Defence barristers for both Ratcliffe and Elston said they had expressed remorse, but the judge suggested that a cynical view might be that this was a 'contrived' remorse.

Elston, of Iredale Crescent, Workington, admitted two counts of intentionally causing the victims grievous bodily harm 13 days before the trial was due to begin.

He was jailed for 21 years, with a five year extended licence period, when he will be at risk of recall to prison. Ratcliffe, of Falcon Place, Workington, entered his guilty pleas to the same two charges on the day the trial.

He was jailed for 21 years and 7 months, also with a five year extended licence period.

Both must serve two thirds of their sentences before they can be considered for release on parole. When their jail terms have expired, they will remain at risk of recall to prison for a further five years, said the judge.

During his sentencing remarks, the judge praised the 'highly professional' and 'meticulous' police investigation.

Detective Chief Inspector Hayley Wilkinson said: “The actions of Ratcliffe and Elston could easily have resulted in loss of life that evening. However, the consequences of the assault continue to be felt to this day. The sentence of the court reflects the seriousness of the attack carried out by both men.”