On the latest episode of On The Case, brought to you by The Crime Desk, host Alex Matthews is joined by crime reporter Ryan Hooper to revisit the 2006 murder of an ‘extremely vulnerable’ man with learning disabilities in Cornwall.

Steven Hoskin, 39, could not read or write when he was befriended by known criminal Darren Stewart, 30, in St Austell, Cornwall.

On the night of 5 July 2006, Stewart and his 16-year-old girlfriend, Sarah Bullock, tortured and killed Hoskin after falsely accusing him of being a paedophile.

Hoskin’s final moments were ‘unimaginable’, Hooper told the podcast. Terrified of heights, Steven was ultimately marched to a 100ft high viaduct wearing a dog collar and forced over the safety rail.

‘Darren and Sarah had decided in their own sort of kangaroo court, which was the bedsit, that Steven was a paedophile,’ Hooper recounted.

‘Now, there was nothing that suggested this was the case. It was just people being rotten to somebody who had the misfortune of people being rotten to him all his life.

The torture and murder of vulnerable Steven Hoskin in 2006 sent shockwaves through the south west of England

Hoskin’s final moments were ‘unimaginable’, Hooper told the podcast. Terrified of heights, Steven was ultimately marched to a 100ft high viaduct wearing a dog collar and forced over the safety rail 

‘So they meted out various punishments. They had burnt him with cigarettes. They beat him. They kicked him.

‘Sarah put a dog collar on him and Steven was made to effectively crawl around the flat… he was also plied with a large quantity of tablets and alcohol.

‘Then, in his dog collar, he was frogmarched to the St Austell railway viaduct, which was a very short distance from where Steven had been living.

‘They marched him over a safety rail and as he desperately tried to hang onto the viaduct they meted out more punishments… as he was screaming for mercy, Sarah kicked him and stamped on his fingers. He fell to his death, some 30 metres.’

Stewart was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 25 years for Hoskin’s murder. Bullock, who the judge accepted had been in the career criminal’s thrall, was also given life, with a minimum of 10 years.

A third man, Martin Pollard, 21, was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for eight years.

The case sent shockwaves far beyond Cornwall, not only as a result of its brutality but because it exposed glaring holes in the system meant to protect vulnerable adults.

Hoskin had been known to social services since childhood. Housing officers and police knew about his new friendship with Stewart, and also that the violent criminal had even moved into his bedsit, but nobody intervened.

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Darren Stewart was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 25 years for Hoskin’s murde

‘Shortly before he was killed, Steven had mentioned to social services that he wanted to no longer engage with them anymore,’ Hooper explained.

‘Now, these days, that wouldn’t be able to happen. Certainly in Cornwall, that is not what happens anymore. If somebody with certain difficulties says they don’t want to engage anymore, it’s not a case that they’re taken off the books.

‘But back in 2006, when this tragedy happened, that is what happened. Effectively, Steven was able to airbrush himself out of the very network that was supposed to protect him.

‘There was no lack of information about Steven, for building a picture of what was happening to him, but it was just that nothing was done about it. His life could have been spared if more action was taken.’

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