Pensioner beheaded 'after dispute over noise' as neighbour is held on suspicion of murder

A pensioner was beheaded on his own doorstep apparently after a disagreement over noise. 

Patrick McGee, 63, was ambushed in his front garden as he returned home from a meeting. 

The attacker cut off his head, then picked it up and dumped it in a nearby wheelie bin. The alarm was raised at around 9.20pm on Monday night after police were called and officers found the victim's decapitated head in a wheelie bin. A man was arrested at the scene. Senior police sources last night confirmed that they were investigating theories that Mr McGee had been involved in a fracas over anti-social levels of noise at a nearby house in Crumpsall, Manchester. 
A police source said: 'A neighbour has a young family and we think Mr McGee may have complained about noise levels in the house and there was a heated argument.'

The source added: 'The killer lay in wait for the pensioner and ambushed him as he arrived home. 

'By all accounts Mr McGee was a hard-working and friendly member of the community. It is a terrible, terrible crime and has left everyone stunned.' 

Police were last night questioning a 31-year-old man on suspicion of murder. 

A regular churchgoer, Mr McGee was a former joiner at the North Manchester General Hospital and a representative with the public service union Unison. 

He was single, had lived on the same street all his life and had spent years looking after his late mother and father John and Iris McGee.

Christine McDonough, a local resident and friend, said: 'Patrick was a real gentleman, a proper neighbour who was well-liked by everyone who came across him. He was always very polite and friendly and took an active interest in the community, helping people wherever he could. 

'I just can't believe that someone would do such a thing in a nice suburban street like this. It is like something out of a horror film.' 

Last night it also emerged that Mr McGee may have been involved in a scuffle in the street a few days earlier. 

Jack Higgins, 65, a neighbour said: 'Paddy came to a meeting of the residents' association at Crumpsall Methodist Church between 7pm and 8pm and I spoke to him there. 

'I noticed cuts and bruises on his hands and he had nasty scratch marks down his cheek but he wouldn't say how he had come by them. 

'Apparently he had been found in the street earlier with blood on him. He left the meeting in his car and it seems he never managed to get through his front door. 

'It is just awful to think about and everyone round here is in shock.' 

Pauline Cribbin, 66, a retired hospital worker who had known Mr McGee for 36 years, said: 'He was a very nice, quiet gentleman and he worked at the hospital all his life. Paddy would never harm anyone, and I can't think of anyone who would do this to him.'  continues here

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