April 4, 2022 11.05 pm This story is over 23 months old

Killer’s partner warned police he would ‘hurt someone’ on night of Darren Munnelly’s death

A chilling insight into the killer’s time in custody
PC Will Cawte from Lincolnshire Police is called to an incident with his colleague Sergeant Mike Templeman in the first episode of the new series of Inside The Force: 24/7. | Photo: Mentorn Media/Channel 5

His partner’s warning on the night Declan Grant punched a Lincoln dad to death has been played in a chilling behind-the-scenes documentary about Lincolnshire Police.

“She knew, and she was right” said detectives, as they were shown listening to her fears that killer Declan Grant ‘would hurt himself or someone else’.

Grant, 22, who was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for the manslaughter of Darren Munnelly, 46, after the fatal attack on Sunday, July 26, 2021, had been drunk, angry and abusive throughout the evening.

Declan Grant, 22, of St Mary’s Street, Lincoln, imprisoned for six and a half years for the manslaughter of Darren Munnelly.| Photo: Lincolnshire Police

999 calls to Lincolnshire Police were played in tonight’s episode of Channel 5’s Inside the Force: 24/7, revealing his partner had warned call operators he was drunk and likely to hurt someone.

“He smashed the house up […] I’m safe”, she began, telling the call taker he was ‘very aggressive and drunk’ and needed to be ‘put away for the night’.

In a second call, she says:

“It seems like he will hurt himself or he will hurt someone in the street.

“I feel like something else is going to happen.”

Footage examined by detectives also showed him behaving aggressively earlier that night in Lincoln city centre.

His partner had told police he had been thrown out of the ‘Trebles’ bar that evening and was drunk – a 10 on a scale of one to 10.

Grant had first appeared on the documentary weeks before for a separate incident.

The programme opened with officers responding to a report of a fight at a funeral before their car was pounced on by Grant, who began making threats. He was swiftly tasered and brought to custody.

Darren Munnelly (right) was found fatally injured outside flats on Carr Street in Lincoln, and the area was covered with tributes to him.

Footage was then shown of Declan’s arrest on the night he attacked Darren, a Lincoln father who was well-loved in the local community. “I’m scared,” Grant told officers as he wept into his hands.

Courts later heard Darren Munnelly had died from two punches to the head, and that it was most likely he had approached his attacker on Carr Street to ask him to keep the noise down.

Darren had been out to the theatre with his mum earlier in the evening which they followed with a visit to a bar in town, before ending at his evening at his favourite local pub, the Queen in the West.

Tributes poured in from the heartbroken community.

Son Sean Falkinder said that the day in July turned their lives upside down forever. “Not a single minute has passed where the tragic passing of my dad hasn’t been the overriding thought on my mind with everything else becoming secondary,” he said.

“My dad was loved by all who had the pleasure of meeting him and his passing has affected far more afield than just our immediate family and friends.”

Lincolnshire promoted the work of OnePunchUK in the wake of the tragic killing, to raise awareness of the devastation that a one punch assault can have on the victim and their families.

The next episode of Inside the Force: 24/7 airs on Monday, April 11 at 9pm.