John Henry Sayers is a free man after he and his son were unanimously cleared by a jury at the Old Bailey of causing grievous bodily harm to an arsonist who attacked their home. The verdict, reached after approximately four hours of deliberation, acquitted both Sayers, 62, and his son John Henry Sayers junior, 29, of GBH with intent and the lesser alternative of causing GBH.
Background of attacks
For three years, the Sayers family had been under sustained attack by the Freeman organised crime group, a Newcastle-based criminal network. The court heard that during this period, the Sayers did not respond with violence. The attacks included a September 2022 incident where a retail van owned by Sayers junior was set on fire by masked men on an off-road bike in Newcastle city centre. In May 2023, a truck was reversed into the gable end of the home of Stephen Sayers, causing a fire. In October 2024, the grave of Sayers senior's mother was vandalised with spray paint. Days before the February 2025 incident, Sayers junior's VW Golf was set on fire outside their home.
The police had issued an Osman warning to Sayers senior, indicating a genuine threat to his life. The court was told that police had information that the same group responsible for earlier attacks was discussing "finishing the job," potentially in the presence of his children.
The incident of 2 February 2025
On the evening of Sunday 2 February 2025, Sayers was watching television when he felt his home shake as a Range Rover was reversed into Lou's Diner, which is beneath his flat in Byker, Newcastle. Believing the gang was attempting to kill him, Sayers picked up a machete and went outside, followed by his son, who grabbed a metal pole. They confronted Walter Patterson, who was torching the Range Rover. The vehicle contained a container of fuel and went up like a "fireball," according to the court.
CCTV footage showed Sayers swinging his machete twice before entering the burning vehicle to move it away from the property, suffering burns in the process. Meanwhile, his son struck Patterson with the pole. Patterson sustained severe injuries, including lacerations to his left forearm that damaged tendons, fractures to two bones in the left forearm, rib fractures, lacerations to the head, and injury to his spleen.
Defence and verdict
Defence barristers argued that both defendants were acting in reasonable self-defence. Sayers senior told police he believed Patterson had a knife and that any action he took was in self-defence. He also stated he believed his son had been stabbed during the incident. After the incident, Sayers told officers to get Patterson medical assistance before walking and then jogging towards his nearby home, still holding the machete. Two police officers tasered him, and he was arrested.
Patterson later pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered and was jailed. He did not testify at the trial.
Previous police warnings
The court heard that the police had information that an organised crime group was recruiting someone to murder Sayers senior. A notice issued to Sayers stated: "Northumbria Police are in receipt of information that a member of the Sayers family is at risk of serious harm." However, the court also heard that Sayers and his son had not given their full support to police investigations, with Sayers senior signing an officer's notebook stating he believed Northumbria Police was "corrupt and colluding and protecting their informers who are to blame."
Release from custody
Sayers, who had been held in Frankland Prison and then HMP Belmarsh during the trial, will be released once the relevant paperwork is completed. He had been remanded in custody since the allegation at the start of 2025.
