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Woman's murder 'brutal' jury told | Woman's murder 'brutal' jury told |
(40 minutes later) | |
A woman whose body was found dumped in Snowdonia had so many injuries it was hard to say which of two defendants had killed her, a trial jury has been told. | |
The body of single mother Lorraine Jones, 45, from Leeswood near Mold, was found dumped near Bala, in June 2005. | |
Mold Crown Court heard there was also evidence to suggest a sadistic or sexual motive to the attack. | |
Christopher Reed, 40, and his partner Kathy Williams, 30, from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, both deny murder. | |
Prosecuting barrister Peter Hughes QC told the jury that the defendants had been the last to see Ms Jones alive at their flat and suspicion fell on them. | |
Her body was discovered dumped in rough ground, near the A4212 Bala to Trawsfynydd road. | |
She had been beaten, she had been stabbed, and it was subsequently discovered that she had been strangled Peter Hughes QC | |
Mr Hughes said: "She was naked apart from a pair of track suit bottoms which were around the lower part of her legs. | |
"She had been dead for some time. | |
"It was readily apparent by looking at the body that she had been the victim of a sustained and brutal attack," he said.. | |
"There was hardly a part of her body that had not been injured in some way or other and the injuries had been inflicted by a number of different means. | |
"She had been beaten, she had been stabbed, and it was subsequently discovered that she had been strangled. | |
'Pack of lies' | |
"So extensive were her injuries that it is hard to say just which of them actually killed her." | |
Mr Hughes said that the defendants blamed each other for the murder and they had told police "a pack of lies" about what had happened. | |
Mr Hughes said: "Each claims to have been asleep in bed while the other, acting alone, single-handedly and single-mindedly carried out the fatal attack. | |
"They each claim to have only discovered the horror of what had happened later when they woke up the following morning." | |
The prosecution case was that their revised and re-scripted version of events was no more than a desperate attempt to save their own skin at the expense of each other. | |
Ms Williams is also charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice by agreeing to dispose of the body, concealing Ms Jones' clothing and personal property, and giving a false account to police about when she had last seen her. | |
The trial is expected to last four weeks. |