Couple saw man near murder house
A couple walking along the banks of the River Severn near to where a retired Midland teacher was murdered spotted a man "on a mission" on the day she was killed, a court has heard.
Julia Sealey and Linda Probert described seeing a man walking past them - away from Betty Yates's home in Bewdley and towards the car park they had just come from.
Bristol Crown Court heard Mrs Probert went on to identify defendant Stephen Farrow as the man that had passed them.
Farrow, 48, denies killing 77-year-old Mrs Yates who was found stabbed at her cottage in Bewdley on January 4, having been killed two days earlier.
The couple were out walking on the afternoon of January 2 this year trying out Mrs Probert's new camera, which she had been given for Christmas. While on their walk they took photos of the isolated and "picturesque" Riverscroft Cottage where Mrs Yates lived alone.
Mrs Sealey told the court: "There were lots of people who walked past us, but there was one chap in particular who walked past who seemed to be on a mission."
The couple both attended an identification procedure during which they were separately shown nine photographs of different men. Mrs Sealey was unable to say whether any of the pictures were of the man she saw on January 2, but Mrs Probert identified a picture of Farrow. Farrow, of no fixed address, was not in court to hear their evidence yesterday having refused to leave his cell in the court building, jurors were told.
He is also on trial for the murder of Rev John Suddards in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, which he is alleged to have committed between February 12 and 15.
The drifter has admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He has also pleaded guilty to burgling another property, also in Thornbury, over the Christmas and New Year period. The three charges span a period of eight weeks, from December 21 to February 15, with "distinct" links between them, the court heard. The trial continues.
