Viewers have been left 'heartbroken' over the tragic tale of a man stabbed to death by a vigilante gang who wrongly believed he had raped a teenage girl. The story of Christopher Hughes, 37, from Manchester, who was found dead on the banks of the River Skelmersdale in Lancashire in , was retold in Manhunt on Channel 4 on Tuesday night.
Four days before his body was discovered, Christopher was forced into a car boot in Wigan by a group of men who believed he was responsible for the kidnap and rape at knifepoint of a teenage girl behind a post office after rumours began to circulate within the community. When his body was found at the foot of the river's embankment, he had been brutally stabbed more than 90 times and almost decapitated. Weeks before his death, rumours started circulating online that Christopher was involved in the rape of a teenager behind a post office.
One person said: 'True crime documentary Manhunt on Channel 4 tonight is a really heartbreaking story. What Christopher Hughes went through doesn't bear thinking about and the fact he was actually innocent too makes me sad.
His poor family. Christopher Hughes, 37, from Manchester, who was falsely accused of the knifepoint rape of a teenage girl was kidnapped and murdered by eight men in a vigilante attack.
Another wrote: 'That was awful, so glad he got justice and his name cleared. Others expressed their happiness at the sentences handed out to the gang, a minimum of years in jail between eight. The men even broke into Christopher's home looking for him before their hunt 'continued the following day until he was abducted in broad daylight'.
