Officers appeal to the public for information relating to the murder of a man who died 15 years after he was attacked in Bury

In May 2023, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) launched a murder investigation into the death of 40-year-old Christopher Linton.

Chris tragically passed away on 30 May 2023, after he was admitted to hospital a few days before.  Ultimately his death however resulted from medical complications that are believed to be directly linked to an assault against him 15 years ago and from which he never fully recovered.

The assault took place in the early hours of the morning on Saturday 4 October 2008 when Chris left the Derby Arms Pub on Bolton Street in Bury.

Whilst walking along Bolton Road he met and got talking to two women, near the Blockbuster Video Store and Raja’s Indian Takeaway. The two women then got into a black car with two men and as Chris continued to speak to the women, he was stabbed in the neck by one of the men.

Chris sustained life-threatening injuries from this attack but managed to make his way back to the Derby Arms Pub to seek help from the occupants who gave him first aid and called an ambulance. Chris was then taken to hospital where he was given life-saving treatment.

Following this incident, an investigation was launched by GMP Bury CID and two men were subsequently arrested however no one was charged with the assault.

Following his death, a murder investigation was launched and police are now appealing to the public for information.

Christopher’s mother Tracey McLeod said: “My son Christopher, who liked to go by the name of Chris, lost his life on 30 May 2023 at Fairfield hospital when he was just 40 years old. Chris was kind-hearted and always put others before himself. He had a heart of gold, he was funny, loving, and most of all caring, and he had a fantastic personality.

Chris touched the heart strings of everyone who met him: family, friends, colleagues, and strangers. Chris had a son he loved so very much but now his son has lost his father. Chris was a son, grandson, nephew, brother, uncle, father and brother-in-law. His greatest achievement was becoming an RAC inspector, which he was very proud of and his family was incredibly proud of him.

Words cannot describe the pain and trauma that Chris’s death has had on our family. The pain and sadness is with us all day and night and it doesn’t go away. I am pleading as a mother for help from the public. Please help us as a family get some closure from the grief we are going through. Chris was brutally stabbed in the neck 15 years ago, and the people involved left my son for dead. This happened at the back of Blockbusters on Bolton Road. Please come forward with any information to help a devasted family and help my son Chris to rest in peace.”

DI Alex Wilkinson of Greater Manchester Police’s Major Incident Team said: “Chris was an innocent victim of an unprovoked and terrible attack that tragically resulted in his death. Although Chris passed away years after the incident took place, this has not lessened the impact on his family who have had to watch the person they love pass away from an act of senseless violence. Chris’s family remain at the forefront of this investigation, and we will continue supporting them with specialist officers.

"Despite the passage of time between Chris’s death and the attack on him, the investigation team remains determined to identify the person or persons responsible and bring them to justice. I would like to appeal to anyone with any information about the assault to do the right thing and contact police. The information you have could be the piece we need to solve this investigation and finally bring some closure to a grieving family.”

You can report information directly by uploading it to GMP’s dedicated portal here: https://mipp.police.uk/operation/06GMP23N10-PO1

Alternatively, you can report via GMP’s website (www.gp.police.uk) or by calling 101, quoting the 495 4/10/2008

Or you can call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.