Man ‘kept stabbing grandmother Anne James' lifeless body’
A man continued to stab his grandmother’s lifeless body in a ‘sustained’ attack after inflicting a fatal slash wound to her throat, a court has heard.
The trial of 26-year-old Gregory Irvin also heard that his father suspected him of taking drugs because of the odd things he would say.
Pathologist Dr Alexander Kolar, who carried out the post mortem on 74-year-old Anne James, of Walsall, said it was highly likely that she was attacked from behind.
It is thought four neck wounds, one described as ‘massive’, were inflicted first and would almost certainly have caused the victim to collapse immediately, Dr Kolar told Birmingham Crown Court.
A further 41 knife wounds were found on both her back and front chest, indicating that her body was turned over before the attack continued, he said. There were no defensive injuries or signs of a struggle, the jury heard.
Asked by Mr Timothy Raggatt, QC, defending, whether the injuries were consistent with being caused by the serrated edge of a bread knife, Dr Kolar agreed.
Earlier the jury heard that splashes of blood were found on the bread bin in Mrs James’ kitchen at Doveridge Place, off Sandwell Street, where she had been preparing soup minutes before the brutal attack on February 28.
In cross-examination, Dr Kolar confirmed that a ‘very sustained stabbing’ had taken place.
The defendant’s father, Mark Irvin, told the court his son had lost a steady job with FedEx early in 2017 and moved in with his girlfriend in Bilston. As a result he was often short of money and had racked up debts of £35,000.
Mr Irvin installed a security camera in his stepmother’s kitchen after Mrs James said cash had gone missing. He also fitted another in the Walsall Wood home he shared with wife Jayne – and occasionally the defendant – as money had also disappeared from there.
The jury heard that as a youngster aged seven or eight, the defendant had made an allegation of a sexual assault on a trip with the cub scouts to a Disney On Ice show.
The matter was reported to the police but no one ever traced. The incident had upset his son ‘very considerably’ and by the time he reached his early teens he was self-harming, said Mr Irvin.
He also told how he suspected his son, diagnosed as on the autistic spectrum, of being on drugs. “Some of the things he said didn’t make sense,” he said.
The defendant, of Bilboe Road, Bradley, Bilston, denies murder. The trial continues.
