Image released of getaway car used in grandfather killing

Police have released the image of a car used as a a getaway vehicle when a grandfather from York was killed the day before his 70th birthday.

Shortly after 12.05pm on Thursday 12 November 2015, police were called to Plantation Industrial Estate in Ashton under Lyme to a report of serious assault.

Emergency services attended and discovered 69-year-old James Ray with serious head injuries. He was taken to Hope Hospital where he died in the early hours of Friday 13 November 2015, on what would have been his 70th birthday.

Police believe the offenders parked on the estate in a silver Ford Fiesta, stole the victim’s van and left the scene in both vehicles.

A short time later the van was found abandoned on Clarence Street in Stalybridge and the Fiesta in the early hours of this morning in the Heywood area.

A 23-year-old man and a 44-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of murder and have been bailed until next year.