Two men who terrorized an innocent homeowner in a botched vigilante mission have been sentenced to prison following an investigation at Teesside Crown Court. Joe Murphy, 28, and Alex Wild, 22, were jailed after they kicked down the door of a residence in Normanby based on what the court heard was “entirely incorrect information.”
The incident, which took place on the night of January 25, saw the pair target a property on Lambton Street. Murphy, wearing a striking red and white wrestling mask, and Wild initially knocked on the victim’s door, asking for an individual who did not live there. The homeowner, a man in his 50s, spoke to the pair and even shook hands with one of them, believing the matter was resolved.
However, just 15 minutes later, the men returned and forcibly kicked through the front door. The victim was confronted by the pair, who shouted aggressively, demanding to know “where the stuff was.” During the scuffle, the victim tripped over a piece of furniture and was punched in the neck by Murphy. Finding nothing of value to take, the duo eventually fled the property empty-handed.
In court, it emerged that the pair had been acting on false intelligence. Murphy claimed he was attempting to recover gold chains that had been stolen from his brother weeks earlier during a violent robbery. Defence barrister Albany Kidd explained that the information Murphy received—which led them to the victim’s home—was either “deliberately false or mistaken,” and that the victim had no connection to the crime.
The victim provided a harrowing impact statement, telling the court he was left “shaken and confused” by the ordeal. He suffered back and shoulder injuries during the incident and stated that he no longer feels safe in the home he occupied for a decade, having since moved out entirely.
Judge Stephen Ashurst condemned the men for taking the law into their own hands. “This was clearly your idea,” the judge told Murphy, characterizing him as the aggressor who took the lead in the assault.
Murphy, of Melton Walk, Hemlington, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. Wild, of Upsall Hall Gardens, Nunthorpe, was sentenced to three years. Eight months of Wild’s sentence was attributed to the activation of a previous suspended sentence issued in 2025 for his involvement in a farm burglary that included the theft of a Land Rover and a Range Rover Evoque.
While mitigation was offered—with Murphy citing ongoing therapy for past traumas and Wild highlighting a shift away from drug and alcohol use—the court underscored the severity of the unprovoked attack on a man who had no involvement in the events that prompted the violence.
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