Man charged with murder of Lancashire pensioner Bill Howard

Bill Howard, 79, was found with serious head injuries in St James Street just before 2pm on Saturday August 28.

Emergency services attended but Mr Howard was pronounced dead at the scene.

A postmortem established the cause of death to be fatal head and chest injuries.

Three men - aged 54 and 58 and both from Accrington and a 56-year-old man from Accrington - were arrested on suspicion of murder.

John Swannack, 58, of St Leger Court, Accrington, was charged with murder last night (September 1) following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service.

He is due to appear before Blackburn Magistrates' Court today (Thursday, September 2).

The 56-year-old remains in custody and the 54-year-old has been released under investigation.

Police have urged anyone who saw Mr Howard or anything suspicious in the area between 3pm on August 24 and 2pm on August 28 to contact the force.

Anyone with information can call 101, quoting log number 0785 of August 28.

You can also report it online via doitonline.lancashire.police.uk.

Alternatively, independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.

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