Woman jailed after killing a man in Blackpool

A woman has been jailed after she was convicted of killing a man in Blackpool.

Tracey Simmonds and another man attacked Jeremy Fitzsimmons with weapons at a flat in the resort in 2017.

Mr Fitzsimmons appeared to make a full recovery from the assault but one of the wounds he suffered had caused a small undetected internal injury which culminated two years later in a ruptured bowel and his death in 2019 when he was 44 years of age.

Simmonds and her accomplice James Walton were both jailed in 2018 for wounding following the attack but following Mr Fitzsimmons’ death she was charged with his manslaughter.

The single fatal wound was actually inflicted by James Walton, but Simmonds was prosecuted on the basis that the two had acted together in a joint enterprise with both sharing an intention to injure with weapons.

Walton, 51, died in 2020 so could obviously not be prosecuted.

Simmonds, 48, of Edmonton Place, Blackpool, was found guilty of manslaughter following a trial earlier this year.

She appeared at Preston Crown Court where she was jailed for three years.

Det Insp Simon Pritchard, of the Force Major Investigation Team, said: “While it may be true that Tracey Simmonds did not personally strike the blow which was to cause the subsequently fatal wound, this was a case of two people acting together, in concert, both using weapons against the same victim at the same time, both sharing an intention to injure him with their weapons as part of a joint enterprise, both encouraging each other to do so and that accordingly, both are criminally responsible for all the injuries that were inflicted, which includes the wound that subsequently caused death.

“I would like to thank the jury for their careful consideration of all the facts in this complex case and the Crown Prosecution Service and prosecution team for their expert work in preparing and presenting the case at court.

“I hope that this conviction and sentence offer Mr Fitzsimmonds’ family some sense that justice has been served and my thoughts remain with them at this time.”