Murdered Joe’s family devastated, court hears

THE loss of their “very brave and kind-hearted little lad” has “devastated” the Geeling family, Manchester Crown Court heard yesterday.

In a victim impact statement, Joe’s parents, Tom and Gwen Geeling, said the fact that they still do not understand why Michael Hamer killed their son is “extremely difficult to come to terms with”.

In the statement read out by prosecutor Alistair Webster QC, Mr Geeling said: “We cannot make any sense whatsoever out of Hamer’s actions. We feel he will leave us never knowing the truth about the many gaps in his version of events. This we find extremely difficult to come to terms with.”