A JURY took less than an hour to find two youths guilty of killing Minehead landscape gardener Tim Chilcott in a booze fuelled town centre attack in the early hours of a Sunday morning in January. A 16-year-old boy, too young to be named for legal reasons, and his 20-year-old friend Sean Wylds, from Minehead, were convicted of manslaughter on Monday after a week-long trial at Exeter Crown Court. Sentencing was adjourned for about two weeks, when judge said he would consider an application to name the 16-year-old. Mr Chilcott's death on January 21 shocked West Somerset and tributes poured in to the Free Press paying respect to "a lovely guy who never had a bad word to say about anyone". He had been found collapsed in Blenheim Road and rushed to Musgrove Park Hospital, in Taunton, where he died the following afternoon. He had suffered a brain stem injury. The two defendants, part of a gang of six young people, walked into Minehead police station where they were arrested and charged with manslaughter. Both pleaded not guilty, claiming they had acted in self-defence, saying Mr Chilcott, whom they did not know, threatened to "slice up" the younger youth with a knife. However, no knife was found and the jury rejected their explanation. "They launched a gratuitous and unprovoked attack on Tim Chilcott," said Martin Meeke QC, prosecuting. It happened as Mr Chilcott was going home from his local pub to Hillview Close, Minehead, where he lived with his parents. It was believed at the time that he had been to the Wellington Hotel, although he was also a regular at the York House Inn and a member of Minehead Social Club. "He used to go out for a drink but he never bothered anybody. He'd have his pint and then go home," a friend told the Free Press in January. Mr Chilcott found himself facing six youths and, although CCTV failed to record the incident, the jury was told both defendants punched Mr Chilcott in the face. The drunken 16-year-old youth - who the court was told had downed 12 pints of strong lager - asked him if he was having a good night before throwing two heavy, two-inch thick Argos catalogues, picked up from a doorway, at 36-year- old Mr Chilcott, who remonstrated with him. Wylds punched him then the youth landed a punch which was so hard it sent Mr Chilcott "falling like a tree" to the ground. Mr Chilcott suffered a ten inch fracture to his skull which was untreatable and not survivable, said Mr Meeke. Wylds said, on a scale of one to ten of drunkenness, he would have been at "four or five". Mr Meeke said the 16-year-old was "looking for trouble" and one of the group of six said he was "really drunk, not his usual self, a bit weird and vicious". He said the youth had said he wanted "to bust some heads open" when the pubs closed at 2am. The youth claimed Mr Chilcott threatened to stab him and "slit my throat" so he punched him in self defence: "I wasn't sure if he had a knife. I felt threatened by what he said," he told police. Wylds said the tall and broad 16-year-old would fight him "one to one". He said the youth "broadened out his shoulders to look bigger" and their noses were touching. But he added: "I did not see a knife." After Mr Chilcott was felled and left unconscious on the ground, the six ran off to the bandstand in Blenheim Gardens. In the days that followed, people laid flowers at the spot where Mr Chilcott had been found. Mr Chilcott was well known as a quiet man who had won numerous awards for gardening skills: "He lived for his gardening - his garden at Hillview was superb . . . he wouldn't hurt a fly," a friend told the Free Press at the time. "He used to do my garden and was always so polite," said one former customer. "He was a lovely lad - just a lovely guy. He never had a bad word to say about anyone." And another friend, Neil Mould, at whose wedding Mr Chilcott was best man, said: "He was always there when I needed him - I'm proud to have called him my friend." The pair were remanded in custody by Judge Graham Cottle while reports are prepared before they are sentenced.