Teenage brothers who shattered a former care worker’s skull while attempting to protect a schoolboy have been identified for the first time after a judge lifted reporting restrictions.
Archie and George Tilley were sentenced to 12 years in prison each after battering former carer Alan Willson with a 3ft wooden log in a park on Easter Sunday last year after a disagreement over a frisbee.
When Mr Wilson, 47, ran to the aid of an 11-year-old, he sustained’significant life-changing brain injuries, lung trauma, and broken bones,’ according to Lewes Crown Court.
The judge stated that the remorseless attack left him bloodied, incapacitated, and on the ground.
On April 4, last year, police were called to Whitebeam Road in Worthing around 19.30pm after Mr Willson was discovered injured in the street following the vicious assault in nearby Longcroft Park.
He was taken to Brighton’s Royal Sussex County Hospital for brain surgery. After three months in the hospital, his rehabilitation is now being completed at home.
George Tilley was 13 and Archie was 14 when they attacked Mr Willson with a force “beyond the comprehension of most people,” according to Judge Christine Henson QC.
George Tilley, who will turn 15 next week, and his brother Archie, who is now 16, have been warned that they pose a significant risk to the public.
When they were sentenced to nine years in prison, the brothers showed no emotion.
Following an assessment of their danger, the judge added a three-year extension licence.
Harry Furlong, 18, of Horsham, joined the pair in the dock and was sentenced to 20 months in prison for his role in Mr Willson’s beating.
The identities of the teenage boys can now be revealed to the public thanks to an application by News UK.
Judge Henson lifted the reporting restriction on identifying the Tilleys, saying Mr Willson was fortunate not to have been killed.
‘Lifting the restriction would have no or little impact on the rehabilitation process. I am satisfied it is now in the interests of justice to lift the restriction,’ Judge Henson said.
Their claims of self defence were described as lacking credibility, the judge said.
‘None of you had any injuries of any note following this brutal attack. This was a group activity, initiated by Archie, enthusiastically joined by George.
‘Harry Furlong, yours was a lesser role. Nevertheless, you joined in,’ the judge told them.
The Tilleys will be eligible to apply for parole after serving eight years. Furlong will serve at least half his 20 month sentence in custody.
Archie Tilley had two previous convictions for three offences. George had five convictions for 18 offences. He was only ten at the time of his first recorded offence. All the offences were for violence including ABH and battery.
The jury were shown chilling train station CCTV footage of the boys re-enacting their brutal assault on Mr Willson.
The teenagers bragged and joked as Mr Willson was being airlifted to hospital. A girl who saw the boys at the train station described to police how they were ‘bragging’.
A jury in Hove heard the attack started after the boys were involved in a row with another 11-year-old over a frisbee.
Mr Willson, 46, suffered severe and life changing head injuries when he was beaten with a heavy, blunt object. He was in hospital for three months.
Asked about his recovery, wife Annie Willson said: ‘He has recovered as much as he’s going to. He will never speak again.
‘He has no mental capacity although it fluctuates. He is continent but not always. He is the most frustrated person I’ve ever seen because on the days when he has capacity, he knows what he wants to say but he can’t say it.’
The boy who witnessed the attack described how Mr Willson and the other three boys started arguing.
The boy told police: ‘One of them just came like grabbing and pushing him and then they all started whacking him with like stumps or like really large thick sticks.’
Mr Willson was bleeding heavily from his ears and head when his wife found him lying on a park footpath near their home in Worthing, West Sussex.
Mrs Willson was was told by doctors his injuries were catastrophic and they did not believe he would survive.
The jury heard a harrowing list of the horrific injuries. He suffered brain damage skull fractures, facial fractures, damage to his eyes and rib fractures.
Furlong was convicted of grievous bodily harm by a majority of 11 to one. George and Archie Tilley were found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent by unanimous jury verdict at Lewes Crown Court in Hove.
In a gripping victim statement, Mrs Willson said her life has stopped. She walked confidently to the witness box before turning to the dock and directing her words straight at the Tilleys and Harry Furlong.
Furlong and Archie Tilley followed her words while George Tilley tried not to look at her.
Mrs Willson said: ‘On Sunday 4th April 2021, Easter Sunday you destroyed my family and have broken us beyond repair. I will never forget turning up in that park and seeing what you had done to my Alan. You took away a husband, father grandad, brother, cousin and uncle.
‘Alan was the gentlest man who would help anyone at the drop of a hat, no questions asked. You attacked him as a group, and did not stop until he was on the floor, bleeding and unconscious.
‘He was keen snowboarder and football fan and enjoyed his time with his family, meals out and making his children laugh uncontrollably. We brought our children up with good morals. I do believe that before this happened, my son and his friends invited you to play football with them. Little did they know what you would end up doing to my Alan.
‘Now because of your actions my husband cannot speak, cannot play with his children, cannot work and cannot control his body. He has no mental capacity, no vision in his left eye and has a massive brain injury from which he will never fully recover. He has hearing problems, dental problems, cannot toilet himself or take care of his personal hygiene. He is not the same man.
‘He is locked in this strange body that he doesn’t understand. He will never again be able to enjoy the things he took so much pleasure in. He no longer says silly things to make us laugh. He no longer gives us hugs and cuddles that we used to enjoy so much. You have no only subjected him to a life sentence, but also me, our young son and the rest of Alan’s family.
‘Many, many tears have been shed by me and Alan’s family, grieving the loss of a great man. Even though he is hanging on to life he will never lead a normal life again and will always depend on others.
‘People say at least he is alive and as my anger bubbles from the pit of my stomach I have to reply, this is no life! I’m sure that Alan, me and out children will be serving a sentence much longer that you!
‘He is a fighter, and I will not let you win. We are a strong family and know the difference between right and wrong. You clearly do not! No child is born this way, this is learnt behaviour. I hope that when you are missing your family, when you are alone and have time to reflect that tears roll down your faces and you spare a thought for my family. The family you have destroyed.
‘On 4th April 2021 you took my soul mate!! You plunged our lives into darkness and changed our family dynamics forever. You took a father a brother an uncle a cousin and a grandad.
‘My husband has had all methods of communication taken from him he cannot speak, gesture or write things down.
‘This is the ultimate form of torture. Trapped forever there is no fix! I take him to use the toilet. I sit and watch him like a hawk when eating, else he chokes.
‘He cannot cough, unless it’s a reflex cough. He cannot clear his throat, he doesn’t know how to. My life has stopped.
‘There is no more joy, no more popping out with my daughter for the day shopping, no more parents evenings to go to as my son is too scared to leave the house so he is studying life skills at home. E.g. how to look after a disabled dad.
‘My son cannot just go to his mates any more for the week as he needs to check all shopping is in as when he leaves the house I am trapped as Alan is to unsteady to go on a shopping trip due to being permanently dizzy which he will be forever due to brain damage and neuro fatigue.
‘When I am at home in the quiet as I now suffer from PTSD and anxiety I reflect on my memories of hearing a ridiculously high pitched rendition of Mika in the shower or fix up look sharp by Dizzy Rascal when I used to have the strop always brought to an end by Alan’s cheeky smile. Or being made to watch snowboarding videos of Alan again and again.
‘But you didn’t know the man you battered nearly to death, he doesn’t give up easily. And you don’t know the power of finding a soul mate and the lengths you will go to, to protect that person.
‘EG feeding them every two hours during the day by syringe and setting up a feeding rig to be changed at 5AM cleaning and washing a bed ridden loved one. You don’t know how it feels to spend a year of your life talking AT someone rather than WITH someone trying desperately to guess what you thing they are trying to say and listening to them crying when you get it wrong.
‘When you were laughing and being disrespectful in the doc after the jury’s verdict my husband was in hospital after having a prolonged seizure that lasted 30 minutes and was temporarily left paralysed down his right side. I shouldn’t been with him by his side but instead I came to court so I could tell my son truthfully that he could go out to play again should he wish to, but guess what, he has no desire to go out to play again.
‘No sentence that you get will ever be long enough as it is Alan who has the life sentence together with myself and my family.’
Mrs. Willson was praised by Judge Henson for her eloquently read statement.
At their sentencing for the senseless attack on Alan Willson, the Tilley brothers’ history of violence was revealed.
Her Honour Judge Christine Henson QC elaborated on the growing danger they both posed to the public.
George Tilley was ten years old when he received his first police warning. Archie Tilley admitted to assaulting other children when he was 11 years old.
They both displayed increasingly violent and threatening behaviours toward their peers and adults.
Despite extensive intervention, the judge found little evidence of any meaningful impact on their criminal behaviour or public safety.
They both have a high likelihood of reoffending.
George Tilley continued to be aggressive toward others, according to Judge Henson. Archie displayed significant anger issues, and both had lives dominated by violent behaviours.
Judge Henson informed the brothers that any recent display of remorse was only for their own situation.
‘There is a significant risk you will both cause serious harm by committing similar offences.
‘The use of a weapon, physical and psychological impact on him and family, frenzied nature of the group assault which continued when he was bloodied, incapacitated and on the ground.’
The Tilleys had humiliated their victims and used violence to justify their actions.
Judge Henson sentenced them both to 12 years in prison, saying, ‘The shortest sentence, allowing for age, would have been nine years.’
‘I do not think that would be long enough.’