Ian Griffin has been jailed for five years after a "prolonged and persistent assault" on his elderly father, Bernard Griffin, 83. The attack, which took place at the family home in Winwick, involved repeated punching, kicking and stamping, leaving Bernard "very bruised, very bloodied, very battered," according to Judge David Swinnerton at Liverpool Crown Court.
This is not Griffin's first violent offence. In 2014, he was convicted of murdering his millionaire fiancée, Kinga Legg, 36, in a luxury Paris hotel. His history of violence was considered during sentencing, with the judge highlighting Bernard's vulnerability—he had a brain injury from a car crash and lived with a colostomy bag.
Paris hotel murder
Griffin was found guilty of murdering Ms Legg at the five-star Le Bristol hotel in Paris. The Polish-born businesswoman, who made her fortune through her family's supermarket produce business, was found dead and naked in the bathtub of the couple's suite. Prosecutors said she had suffered more than 100 injuries, including 17 to her skull.
The court heard Griffin subjected her to a frenzied attack, leaving the room heavily bloodstained. He spent hours cleaning the suite before fleeing France in his Porsche 911, leaving a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. He was later found sleeping rough in Cheshire woodland and extradited to France. At trial, he claimed he could not remember the attack and asked the jury: "How could you think I killed the woman I loved?"
Early release after 22 months
Griffin was initially sentenced to 20 years in December 2014, reduced to 14 years on appeal in April 2016. However, he appealed on medical grounds after developing a severe neurological disease in prison and was granted parole in October 2016, having served just 22 months. The extraordinary release was reported in 2017, when he was said to be living in France with his girlfriend Tracy Baker and their son.
Before Ms Legg's death, Griffin had run tanning salons and gadget shops across the North West, although he was declared bankrupt in 2006.
Attack on his father
On April 30 last year, neighbours heard Griffin screaming in the back garden of his parents' home on Delph Lane, Winwick. His mother Janet, 80, was overheard saying: "Stop, the neighbours will call the police." Griffin then threatened to burn neighbours' property and fight a man working on scaffolding.
The next day, Griffin's brother Adrian called police after becoming concerned for their parents' safety. Officers found Bernard bleeding heavily on the living-room sofa, telling them: "Help me, help me." Griffin was found nearby with blood on his hands, and the room was in disarray with a coffee table overturned and a lamp smashed.
Bernard told police his son had attacked him for almost half an hour, punching him repeatedly in the face, dragging him to the floor, and jumping and stamping on him. Body-worn camera footage and video from Janet's phone captured parts of the assault, including Bernard signing a piece of paper while Griffin shouted instructions about his mother's share of the estate. Bernard suffered a broken nose, lost a gold tooth, and required replacement dentures.
Griffin's explanation and sentencing
Griffin denied responsibility, claiming an unnamed third party attacked his father and that people were trying to blackmail him for £50,000. At his sentencing hearing, appearing remotely from HMP Liverpool and representing himself, he said he had drunk four pints of beer and taken medication that made him "go funny." He said: "It's not me," and described the incident as a "one in a million" event, insisting, "I've been a great son, I really have." Janet supported her son, saying she had never seen him behave violently before.
Judge Swinnerton said Bernard was a "particularly vulnerable victim" and noted an "escalating pattern of violent offending in a domestic setting" in a pre-sentence report, which concluded Griffin was at very high risk of causing serious harm to his father. The judge agreed "entirely" and drew a direct comparison with the Paris murder. Griffin was sentenced to five years in prison plus a year on extended licence, and made subject to indefinite restraining orders preventing contact with his father and the neighbours.
