Son found guilty of father's murder

A man has been found guilty of murdering his father following an argument.

Brian Smith, 33, was accused of murdering his 73-year-old father Stanley Smith, who lived alone at Fell Close in Silloth, Cumbria.

A jury at Carlisle Crown Court found Smith, of Friars Garth, Abbeytown, guilty of murder.

He will be sentenced on 7 August.

The court heard neighbours reported hearing shouting and loud banging from the bungalow on the evening before Stanley Smith's body was discovered on 22 December 2025.

Jurors were told the pair had been together earlier that day after visiting the Albion pub to watch football.

During the trial, Smith told the jury his father had become "irate" after they returned home and he had restrained him before Stanley Smith "lost his balance and drunkenly fell over" in the hallway.

Prosecutors said the man died after forceful compression of the neck during an argument at his home, of which a pathologist found strong evidence.

Smith denied murder, telling jurors his father had simply fallen after losing his balance and that he believed he was asleep when he left the house.

The jury also heard Smith left a voicemail saying "I wanted to kill him" and "let him rot", although he said those comments had been made in the heat of the moment and were taken out of context.

Smith told jurors those comments had been taken out of context and he did not actually want to kill him.

Judge Nicholas Barker said the "inevitable" sentence would be life imprisonment.

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