Sausage and chips killer Peter Augustine gets life sentence

A mugger who killed an 87-year old pensioner in a fit of rage after he refused to let go of a bag containing his sausage and chips supper has been jailed for a minimum of 23 years.

Peter Augustine, 59, followed John Mackey after he made a trip to his local Co-op in Kayani Avenue, Manor House, north London, and then to nearby kebab house on 6 May.

He tried to snatch the bag and when Mr Mackey clung on he punched and stamped him to death in the street in front of horrified witnesses.

Mr Mackey, a ‘proud Irishman’ originally from Callan, Co Kilkenny, who used a stick to walk, was found lying on the pavement bleeding from his head and died two days later.

Police went to Augustine’s hotel and found the half eaten portion of saveloy and chips.

Augustine denied murder and robbery but was convicted by a jury.

He was also convicted of the theft a bag from a baseball player and was wanted for that offence when he murdered Mr Mackey.

Members of Mr Mackey’s were in court today (Fri) but the killer who had shouted at them throughout the trial refused to attend, claiming he has a sore back.

Prosecutor Jane Bickerstaff, KC, said: ‘He is a man who cannot control his temper.

‘The violence he used was not in order to steal the bag. It was a killing done, it seems to me, in extreme temper.’

Mr Mackey’s niece Patricia Schan told the court today Augustine’s screaming and yelling had worsened their insufferable ordeal.

She said in an impact statement Mr Mackey was ‘the perfect uncle, funny, charming mysterious and definitely mischievous.

‘We will remember him always with love and a smile,’ she said.

John Mackey

Mr Mackey who was never seen without his trademark trilby hat, was one of eleven children and although he had no children of his own he doted on his 22 nephews and nieces.

A female juror who had returned to court to see Augustine sentenced, wiped away a tear as Mr Schan added: ‘For him to be taken in such a way is difficult to comprehend.

‘The shock and horror of how his life ended will remain with us for ever.’

The prosecutor said earlier that Augustine ‘was living in reduced circumstances and he had taken to stealing from people.’

‘He was unemployed, he was homeless – or he would have been if not for fact that he was living in the room in Beaconsfield Hotel, paid for by his sister a few days at a time.

‘We say he was targeting Mr Mackey for his bag and its contents and anything else he might have on him.’

CCTV showed Mr Mackey, who suffered from the early symptoms of Alzheimers disease leaving his home at 5pm hi his hat, grey mackintosh coat, carrying a black bag, walking with his stick.

He went into the Co-Op on Green Lanes and bought cornflakes, a cottage pie and a Mirror newspaper which he placed in the black bag.

‘He was seen to take his “wallet” from his inside jacket pocket. He used a notebook with an elastic band round it as his wallet,’ said Ms Bickerstaff.

‘The receipt shows he paid with a £20 note. The cost was £8 50 and he was given £11 50 in change which he appears to place this into his trouser pocket.’

He left the Co-op at 5.30pm and walked across the road.

‘He was slow in his walking due to his age and the use of a stick. He took a while to cross the busy road and paused for a time on the central reservation.

‘At this point he appears to have come to the attention of the defendant. From this point on the defendant followed Mr Mackey.’

Mr Mackey went into Manor Kebab and ordered his saveloy and chips while Augustine lurked outside.

‘Having received his food from the shop, Mr Mackey also placed that inside his black bag,’ the prosecutor said.

‘Mr Mackey walked back towards his home address.

‘The defendant followed him just a few paces behind at all times.’

A witness heard Augustine shout: “Give me the bag’ and saw Mr Mackey lying on pavement with the killer standing over him.

The victim was repeatedly punched and ‘stomped’ with some of the attack occurring as he lay helpless and lifeless on the ground.

Another witness saw Mr Mackey on the floor being stamped and kicked and a third said they saw Augustine searching around his jacket area.

Mr Mackey, regained consciousness, was taken to Whittington Hospital but he has suffered severe brain injuries and he died there on 8 May 2025.

Augustine caught on CCTV walking away carrying the black bag.

He entered Finsbury Park before going back to Beaconsfield Hotel where he was living at the time.

Officers went to his hotel room on 8 May and he was arrested for murder.

The cornflakes box, cottage pie packaging and Mirror newspaper were found in the room.

The cottage pie and the sausage and chips had been eaten.

Augustine told the court he had seen Mr Makey in the kebab shop and decided to rob him ‘because I was hungry.’

The killer, of the Beaconsfield Hotel, Green Lanes, Hornsey, insisted he had not intended to kill Mr Mackey but was convicted of murder and robbery.

Judge Sarah Whitehouse said the victim had been murdered for ‘a pint of milk, a box of cornflakes and a saveloy sausage.’

‘I am sure that what happ3end was that the defendant grabbed Mr Mackey’s bag as he hung on to it and the defendant lost his temper, punching him in the head and body with severe force, far in excess of what was required to steal the bag.’

The judge added: ‘The defendant could have archived his aim without the ferocious attack on a frail, elderly man.

;I have no doubt he was targeted specifically because he was frail. It was a cowardly attack.’

The judge added the abuse the family had suffered from Augustine during the trial had increased their suffering and demonstrated he had no remorse for the murder.