59-year-old man jailed for murder of 34-year-old who was in relationship with his wife
A man who lured his wife’s lover into a murderous ambush where he was bludgeoned and kicked to death five years ago, was told on Friday he will serve at least 16 and a half years of his life sentence in jail. Imposing the minimum tariff on 59-year-old David Austin, Mr Justice O’Hara said it was clear that having been told of a “wicked allegation” that Steven Peck had raped his wife, he had planned the attack over two days. Highlighting “there is not a shred of evidence” to substantiate the claim made by Austin’s wife, the judge told Coleraine Crown Court he was satisfied the 59-year-old had “instigated, planned, and led the attack”.While Austin, from Cherry Gardens in Ballymoney, had entered a guilty plea to the murder of Mr Peck, brothers 34-year-old Stephen and Brian McCook (30), entered guilty pleas to “assisting an offender… by providing him with a safe haven and disposing of incriminating items".Steven Peck, 33, was murdered in Ballymoney, Co Antrim, in January 2021 (PSNI/PA) Their mother, 51-year-old Easther McCook, entered a guilty plea to perverting the course of justice by providing her sons with false alibis. Due to her caring responsibilities for her paralysed husband, her two-year sentence was suspended for three years. The brothers had been on trial for murder, with Austin giving evidence against them that they had attacked Mr Peck with a knuckle duster.When he refused to get back into the witness box, faced with other evidential difficulties, the prosecution withdrew the murder charge when they admitted assisting an offender. Imposing four-year sentences on the brothers, and ordering them to serve half in jail and half on licence, Mr Justice O’Hara emphasised that “whatever anyone’s suspicions are, I can only sentence the McCooks for the crime to which they have pleaded guilty, and not for any other crime”.Stephen McCook “I am aware that some people in this courtroom today (Fri) believe that by pleading guilty, only to assisting an offender, namely, Austin, that the McCook brothers have literally got away with murder, which they were originally charged with. “I understand that belief, and it is not my role to tell those people who hold it, that they’re wrong or to argue against them,” said the judge. The court heard that as far as Mr Peck was concerned, he was in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship with David Austin’s wife Helen Austin but had no idea she was married. On 1 January, she erroneously claimed to Austin that she had been sexually assaulted, a claim which resulted in Austin concocting a plan to “give him a hammering”.Two days later, Mr Peck believed he was meeting her on a laneway close to the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre but instead, he was set upon by three masked men, kicked, punched and beaten with a metal bar. As he lay helpless on the ground, having sustained a broken leg and multiple fractures to his face and head, Austin knelt beside him and delivering two blows with the bar, whispered in his ear, “you know what you got this for”.Having been disturbed by a passer-by, the three fled to Austin’s house, where they burned their balaclavas and gloves and then went to the McCook’s home on the Urbal Road in Dervock, disposing of their weapons and the victim’s mobile phone.Austin was arrested in the early hours when his wife told police that he had come home “covered in blood”.The McCooks claimed they were nowhere near the fatal assaults but their repeated lies were exposed when police investigations obtained mobile phone and CCTV evidence. Mr Justice O’Hara told the court that even now, they have tried to minimise their involvement.“The contrast between what the Pecks have given to society, and what the McCooks and Austin have contributed, could hardly be starker,” said the judge. He revealed that Mr and Mrs Peck had fostered more than a hundred children over many years and of those children, the couple had adopted four, including Steven and three of his siblings. Brian McCook The judge said the Victim Impact Statements of the victim’s parents Rosemary and Derek, and his sister Heather, were “particularly moving,” describing how Steven was their “gentle giant” and that their “hearts are breaking” over this death. Speaking outside Coleraine Court on Friday, alongside Derek and Heather Peck, PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Hazel Miller described the murder as “brutal and senseless”.She added: “The severity of the attack itself, and the callous way in which this victim was left lying on the ground, shocked an entire community, while leaving a loving family shattered.”Ms Miller also read a statement on behalf of Mr Peck’s family, saying he was known as their “gentle giant”.The statement read: “He was incredibly caring and kind, and was deeply loved not only by his immediate family, but by all those who knew him and his close friends.“Our lives have never been the same since police called with us at our home in January 2021, and they will never be the same again.“While we try to get through each day as best we can, we take a small comfort in knowing that those responsible have been held accountable.”
