Mobile phone 'linked to Richard Deakin murder area'
Phone records of a man accused of killing Chasetown businessman Richard Deakin suggested he visited the area on three occasions in the immediate weeks before the murder, a court heard.
Birmingham Crown Court was told heard how David Harrison's mobile phone used cell signals from Chasetown on the mornings of June 4, June 8 and June 18, 2010.
Records also showed that it could "not be ruled out" that Harrison was in Chasetown on the morning of the murder, July 5, although Harrison's defence barrister said the data equally didn't prove his client was there.
The court heard from cell site expert Gregory Robinson, who said that although data could narrow down the area for where Harrison's phone was being used, it didn't mean that Harrison himself was necessarily using it.
But the phone belonging to him was registered as travelling from Bilston – where Harrison lives – towards Chasetown on all three occasions in June.
Of the June 4 occasion, Mr Gregory said: "It's in close proximity and provided coverage to that area (Meadway Street, where Mr Deakin lived).
"We can't say the phone was actually at that address but it's in the coverage area provided by that cell." On the day of the murder, records showed that Harrison's phone was logged as travelling through Essington, Walsall and Wolverhampton at around 1am, but the next call made or received was in Harden, Walsall, at 9.27am. Mr Deakin was murdered at 8.30am.
Mr John Burrows, cross-examining Mr Robinson, questioned whether the exact locality of Harrison's phone could be confirmed on July 5.
Mr Burrows said: "Although it can't be ruled out, we simply don't know where it was."
Harrison, aged 63, of Rainbow Street, Bilston, is accused of shooting Walsall skip hire boss Mr Deakin, 27, in his bed at his home in Meadway Street, Chasetown, Burntwood.
Darryl Dickens, 34, of Powell Place, Bilston, is accused of driving the getaway car. Both deny murder. The trial continues.
