David Ellis (right) is accused of murdering his landlord, Alec Warburton
THE man accused of murdering Swansea landlord Alec Warburton with a hammer forged a letter from the dead man in order to collect rent from his fellow tenants then fled to Ireland, a court has heard.
David Ellis is alleged to have beaten Mr Warburton to death with a hammer at the house they shared inSwansea before dumping the body in a disused quarry in North Wales.
Ellis admits manslaughter but denies murdering the former telecoms engineer.
The first day of the trial at Swansea Crown Court saw barrister Christopher Clee QC set out the case for the prosecution.He told the jury: "Alec Warburton was 59 when he died. He was brutally murdered in his own home in Swansea by this defendant. He died from a severed blunt force head injury. He was bludgeoned to death with a hammer.
"Having murdered Alec Warburton, the defendant then disposed of Alec Warburton in a disused quarry in North Wales and then returned to Swansea for a time before fleeing to the Republic of Ireland before being arrested.
"The defendant does not dispute he killed Alec Warburton but will claim that when he did so he had done so because he lost his self control.
"He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter — the prosecution suggests that having heard the evidence the defendant is not guilty of manslaughter but of murder."
Mr Clee told the jury that after murdering Mr Warburton, Ellis put the body in the dead man's own car and drove to North Wales, where he disposed of the body and the murder weapon — the prosecution say he threw the hammer he had used into the sea in Llandudno.
Alec Warburton's house in Vivian Road, Sketty
Ellis is then said to have driven back to Swansea, and the jury was shown CCTV footage of the defendant at the city's Central Library — it is the prosecution's case that the defendant used the library's computers to research ferry-crossing times, and also to write a letter to the other tenants in Mr Warburton's house purporting to be from the now-dead landlord and asking them to give their rent to the defendant.
Why Thousands Of Men Are Switching To These Razors
A young British start-up is completely shaking up the industry.
Promoted by Cornerstone
The letter said that Mr Warburton would be away for a while helping "with the palliative care of an old friend" and saying that "Dave [Ellis] will cover my chores while away, and collect rent".
Mr Clee told the jury that when detectives investigating Mr Warburton's disappearance visited the house, Ellis maintained the lie that his landlord had gone away.
The court then heard that on August 5 he left Swansea again in Mr Warburton's Peugeot car — but having first altered the digits on its number plates with black sticky tape.
The court was shown a series of photographs from police ANPR cameras which tracked the progress of the car through mid-Wales and on to Liverpool — and then CCTV footage of Ellis at the Stena Line ferry terminal on Merseyside, where he boarded a service to Belfast.
Mr Clee said that Ellis arrived in Belfast the following morning and travelled to Galloway in the Republic of Ireland where he was subsequently arrested by the Irish police, the Gara, at a B&B on September 18.
The court heard that Ellis told the Garda officers he had "dumped" the body in a disused quarry near the village of Dolwyddelan in North Wales — Mr Warburton's body was recovered on September 20.
The court was told that the body had to be identified from dental records, and that a subsequent post mortem revealed Mr Warburton had suffered six depressed skull fractures — three of them large — caused by blows from a "heavy weapon such as a hammer" delivered "with considerable force".
The court also heard details of a forensic examination of Mr Warburton's Sketty house which showed the deceased man's blood and DNA on the wallpaper, the ceiling of a fireside alcove, and on carpets.
The barrister said: "He [Ellis] embarked on a plan to kill Mr Warburton — and he did so in the most vicious manner. He callously disposed of the body, and told lie after lie to cover his tracks."
Ellis denies murder, and the trial — which is expected to last three weeks — continues.
Read more: http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/David-Ellis-bludgeoned-landlord-Alec-Warburton/story-29377808-detail/story.html#ixzz4BI9PWJuE
Follow us: @SWEveningPost on Twitter | SWEveningPost on Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment