“The risk you take by getting involved is that you lose everything.”
That is the message from Detective Chief Inspector Simon Childe following the launch of Wiltshire Police’s Walk Away campaign, an initiative encouraging people to walk away from heated situations before violence can break out.
DCI Childe oversaw the investigation into the manslaughter of Freddie Fontete-Jones in February 2022 when, in the early hours of February 19, Freddie intervened in an altercation in Salisbury city centre.
He tried to defuse the situation but was punched once by Connor Pool. Freddie fell and hit his head on the floor, knocking him unconscious. He never woke up.
DCI Childe, then of the Major Crime Investigation Team, was the Senior Investigating Officer for the case, ensuring the investigation – titled Operation Mayfield – had the correct structure in place to secure a charge and conviction.
Pool, 25, was arrested and charged with murder, but eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter. In February last year he was sentenced to nine years imprisonment, which was reduced to seven years and six months on appeal.
DCI Childe said: “This incident is a classic example of the importance of stepping away from potentially heated situations before someone becomes violent.
“Freddie was there to calm the situation down and there was absolutely no reason for his death.
“If you are on a night out, if things are starting to get out of hand, the message has to be, by getting involved, what are you gaining? Nothing. And the risk is you lose everything. Your life and your future.”
DCI Childe visited Freddie’s mother, Gifty Tetteh, throughout the investigation and was told all about Freddie, saying he felt he “really knew him” and that he sounded “an absolutely lovely man”.
He was also in the courtroom when Pool was sentenced.
He continued: “As Gifty has said, it’s clear that from that one moment on a night out, it’s two families that are absolutely devastated.
“One has lost their son, brother, uncle and are never going to get them back.
“And the other has lost a family member who is going to prison for a long time. There are no winners.”
Our Walk Away campaign launched on Monday (11/03), which encourages self-control, support from friends and for men to walk away from heated situations before the situation becomes violent.
On the campaign, DCI Childe said: “We know nobody goes out on a Friday or Saturday night to cause somebody serious harm or even death, but that’s the risk you take every time somebody is punched.
“There is that risk they will fall and hit their head and you will be responsible.”
For full details and further information visit: Home – We Walk Away.