A grim case from West Yorkshire has ended with a murder conviction that should give pause to anyone who assumes the courts have gone soft. On 8 July 2026 Adrian Frost was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of killing 26-year-old Connor Batty. The facts laid out in trial paint a picture of calculated violence wrapped inside the sordid world of illegal drugs and firearms.
Frost shot Batty in the chest with an illegally held sawn-off shotgun at his property on Barnsley Road in Hemsworth on 11 September 2025. Batty and two other men had forced their way in during what police called a "taxing" burglary, the sort that targets other criminals' cannabis operations and illicit cash. They came armed with an imitation handgun, a pickaxe handle and garden shears. Frost did not dial 999. Instead he retreated inside, armed himself and waited. The force he used was ruled grossly disproportionate.
Temporary Detective Superintendent Matt Holdsworth of West Yorkshire Police said: "Although Connor Batty was committing an aggravated burglary targeting Frost’s cannabis growing set-up and illicit wealth and would have received a similar custodial sentence to his associates had he survived, he did not deserve to lose his life."
That measured statement from the senior investigating officer cuts through the temptation to see this as simple self-defence. Holdsworth made the point again with quiet force: Frost made no attempt to contact police, chose to arm himself with a gun and lay in wait. This was not an ordinary householder reacting in the heat of the moment. The law already makes room for householders who use reasonable force. Frost was a drug dealer with the weapon and ammunition immediately to hand to protect his criminal enterprise.
Search teams found a sophisticated cannabis-growing set-up on the top floor of his home, £147,000 in silver bullion and no evidence of legitimate income. Other weapons recovered included an illegal high-powered air rifle, a samurai sword, machetes, knuckle dusters and incapacitant spray. Frost also pleaded guilty to production of cannabis, supplying it, possession of the shotgun, possession of incapacitant spray and abstraction of electricity.
The three surviving accomplices, Lewis Bromley, Dylan Kelly and Connor Turner, were sentenced in May 2026 for their roles in the burglary. Their terms ranged between three and four and a half years. Batty would likely have faced the same had he lived. Yet the jury, after full consideration of the circumstances, convicted Frost of murder. Sentencing is due on Monday.
Holdsworth's final remarks deserve wider attention. "This is not a case of an ordinary member of the public defending his home in the heat of the moment, using force that is disproportionate," he said. "He was a drug dealer who had an illegally held sawn-off shotgun and ammunition immediately to hand to defend his criminal enterprise. He used deadly force without justification, and it is right that he has been prosecuted and held responsible for killing Connor Batty." The officer added that Connor’s family are innocent parties in this tragedy and that thoughts remain with them.
