The love triangle scrap which foreshadowed a beautician's deadly thirst for revenge Coleen Campbell was sentenced for violent disorder It was a week that, like a ripple in a pond, continues to have repercussions to this day. It was June when those momentous seven days started with a shocking scrap in the street, and ended with a brutal murder. Although they unfolded differently, both were motivated by the same thing. Love, and revenge. ‌ Coleen Campbell is the other common denominator in both attacks. A mother and beautician, she found the time in her busy schedule on a Wednesday afternoon to drive an armed gang to attack a woman in the street. Wielding a hammer herself, she with others exacted revenge over a bitter love triangle. Her victim was said to be in a relationship with a man who was also seeing one of her associates, a fellow member of that mob who sought street justice. Over the next few days, she also found time to exact revenge of her own against a former lover, her ex-husband. Having previously split they had appeared to have made up, at least for the benefit of their children. But Thomas Campbell had no idea that his ex-wife was conspiring against him, feeding information about his whereabouts to rivals who wanted to do him harm. Article continues below Coleen Campbell (Image: Facebook ) It’s unlikely she wanted him dead. But by Saturday night, that was exactly what had happened. She was not present at the scene, but had done her bit. He was ambushed at his front door and attacked, before being tortured to death. As she faced justice, being found guilty of manslaughter and conspiracy to rob after a trial in 2023, she wore all black, with dyed black hair. The grieving widow, who protested she would never harm her former husband. ‌ She wore the same colours this week as she appeared before Greater Manchester’s courts again, just over two years into the 13 year sentence she was handed in February 2023 in relation to Thomas’ death, after he was killed on July 2, 2022. The case against her in connection with the street attack, which happened on June 29, 2022, was only finalised on Monday (Apr 14). Campbell, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison after admitting violent disorder and theft, was told that her latest sentence would not delay her expected release date from jail, which is expected in May 2031. She listened on intently from the video link room at category C prison HMP Drake Hall in Staffordshire, moving closer to the screen in apparent difficulty in hearing what was being said. The judge commended her, telling how she has ‘developed insight’ and for ‘doing all you possibly can to reform yourself’. ‌ Monday’s hearing transported her back to a week in her life which continues to have wide ranging implications for so many people. Only Coleen Campbell can imagine what was running through her mind through those fateful seven days. Thomas Campbell (Image: MEN Media ) But we know that it began on Monday, June 27, 2022, with her helping her ex-husband’s killers place a tracking device on Thomas’s van, then texting details of his car, and the number to his home. ‌ Thomas was pounced on after parking on his drive in July, and unlocking his front door. He was punched and kicked as his attackers tried to subdue him. He fought for his life, but overpowered and outnumbered, he succumbed. He was punched, kicked, stabbed, stamped on, strangled, and cut to his face. He was dragged around the house, as his attackers ransacked his home trying to steal anything of worth. He was tortured and had boiling water poured over his buttocks while bound by the ankles and wrists with duct tape. Just before 1am, close to death, he mustered up the strength to call 999. He was too severely injured to answer the call handler's questions. ‌ A neighbour found him dead the following morning after seeing his door wide open. At first, she was treated as a witness, a grieving widow. Despite this, the day after learning her former husband had been murdered, she felt able enough to return to work at her beauty salon in Droylsden. Theirs had been a complicated and troubled relationship. The pair had known each other as youngsters. Coleen had her first child aged 17 with a previous partner before she and Thomas got together. They ‘really clicked’ on nights out after Thomas had been released from a nine year sentence for a robbery conspiracy. They got married and started a family together. ‌ The couple had a taste for the finer things in life, luxury holidays, house extensions and high powered cars. But police had suspicions about how it was being funded. At the time in the mid 2010s Coleen worked part time at Matalan and received working tax credits, while Thomas was registered as a self-employed fitness instructor. Thomas was a convicted drug dealer, who had been in court in 2010 for cannabis dealing. Their home in Clayton, east Manchester, was raided in March 2015, as part of what Greater Manchester Police described as an operation focused on the Campbells' 'involvement with cocaine supply' in Clayton. ‌ They were jointly prosecuted and pleaded guilty to money laundering, enjoying around £100,000 of dirty money between 2009 and 2015. In 2019 at Manchester Crown Court, Thomas was jailed for two years. Coleen escaped with a suspended prison sentence. Coleen visited him ‘every single week’ in jail. It was after his release from prison that their relationship began to break down. She claimed that Thomas became paranoid and accused her of seeing other men while he’d been inside. But for Coleen, their marriage was over after she accused Thomas of cheating on her with her best friend. So angered was she about her husband’s alleged infidelity, she went to the woman’s house, smashed the windscreen of her car and drove into it. ‌ She was hauled before the courts again in 2021 and fined after admitting causing criminal damage. That year, their split became formal and they divorced. Thomas had spent time in Spain and Dubai before returning home, moving into a smart new build townhouse in Mossley before his death. After his return their relationship appeared to become more amicable, attending school events for their children. Little did he know that she was secretly plotting revenge. On that fateful week in June 2022, she also had time to help a pal in her own quest for vengeance. ‌ Thomas Campbell and Coleen Campbell pictured outside Manchester Crown Court when they were prosecuted for money laundering (Image: STEVE ALLEN ) Hannah Derbyshire, thought to then have been a pal of Campbell, had found herself in a love triangle with a woman. They were both said to be in a relationship with the same man. The exact background to the dispute is unclear, but the subsequent revenge attack on her victim was very clear to see on CCTV footage. On June 29 Campbell, now 41, had driven Derbyshire, 27, Chloe Bamford, 30, another woman then said to have been a pal of hers, and Simon Bowden, 38, believed to be a relative of hers, in her VW Tiguan to a street in Ashton-under-Lyne where their victim was walking. ‌ Campbell, armed with a hammer, Bowden, wielding a two foot long drill bit, and Bamford, holding a rolling pin, launched themselves at her. Derbyshire was content to use her hands and feet. Campbell used the hammer and struck out at her victim. Then 90 seconds later, they were gone as Campbell drove away from the scene. The events in Ashton-under-Lyne may appear just a footnote in history given what was to occur later that week. But they displayed Campbell’s willingness to do appalling things in pursuit of retribution. At Minshull Street Crown Court on Monday, April 14, Campbell and Bowden, both of no fixed address, were sentenced to 18 months in prison each. Derbyshire, of Bristowe Street, Clayton, and Bamford, of John Beeley Avenue, Openshaw, were both handed suspended prison sentences. Article continues below Derbyshire was sentenced to 16 months in prison, suspended for two years. Bamford was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years. The pair were both ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and attend 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days. All four defendants pleaded guilty to violent disorder. Campbell also admitted theft.