A man has gone on trial accused of murdering his father by unlawfully applying pressure to the pensioner’s neck during an argument, allegedly as ‘anger took over’.
Carlisle Crown Court heard 73-year-old Stan Smith was living alone at Fell Close in Silloth after separating from his wife. Stan was previously a heavy drinker but for three years had, in the main, abstained from alcohol.
On Sunday, December 21 last year, Stan and his only son, 33-year-old Brian James Stanley Smith, visited the town’s Albion pub to watch football.
A landlady described the pair as being “completely normal” — like a “typical father and son going out for a few drinks and watching the football”.
Stan consumed three bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale and a pint of Guinness. His son had four pints of Guinness.
CCTV captured them returning to Stan’s Fell Close address — into which his son had moved after returning to Cumbria — just before 8pm.
A neighbour reported hearing very loud arguing from Stan’s address at around 8.40pm, along with other noises which sounded like cupboards banging. This made him think someone was being pushed or shoved.
The worried neighbour rang his mother to tell her what was happening. Towards the end of a call lasting almost nine minutes, everything went quiet.
Prosecutor Kim Whittlestone alleged to a jury at the crown court, where Brian Smith is on trial: “The prosecution say that the reason it went quiet was because Stanley Smith was dead, and that he had been murdered by his son.”
Miss Whittlestone told the jury a series of text messages and voice notes were then exchanged by the accused, Smith, with his own mother, another woman and a friend, in which he started to “create a narrative” about events inside the bungalow. In one, to the woman, Smith stated: “He started on me so I restrained him.”
In a police interview, Smith demonstrated the restraint which he said occurred as he walked his father to a bedroom. His dad, he said, “heel-kicked” him and grabbed his knuckle. Smith said his dad then followed him and collapsed — with “no warning, no inkling” — in the hallway.
CCTV footage, the court heard, showed a reflection of the pensioner “lying dead on the floor of the hallway” at just before 9pm.
Smith left Fell Close at 9-20pm, went to his mother’s address and then to hospital with injuries to his lip and right hand which, he said, were caused by his father.
A consultant radiologist noted Smith had suffered a displaced spiral fracture of the fourth metacarpal shaft of the hand.
“Was it, as the defendant states, caused by his father grabbing his hand and squeezing it hard after he released his father?” asked Miss Whittlestone.
“Or could it have been caused as Stan Smith was being restrained in an arm lock by the defendant and Stan has tried desperately to pull his son’s hand or arm from around his throat?”
A pathologist concluded that the cause of Stan Smith’s death was pressure to his neck. Internal bruising found on the back of the body — over the chest and shoulder blades — was consistent with him being “attacked from behind”.
Smith dialled 999 two minutes after returning to the address at 5-28am on 22nd December. He told a call handler his father “didn’t die where he dropped” and had moved.
“The prosecution case is that Stanley Smith had not moved,” alleged Miss Whittlestone. “He could not move because his life had been taken from him.”
Miss Whittlestone also said: “The prosecution say that this is a case where considerable pressure has been applied to the neck of Stanley Smith by the defendant. Likely this was an arm lock with consistent pressure being applied for at least one minute.
“Whilst this was happening the internal bruising to Stanley Smith’s back strongly suggests a scenario where pressure has been to his back while Stanley Smith is being restrained.”
Miss Whittlestone further alleged: “Anger took over and the prosecution case is that he murdered his father.”
Brian Smith, of Friars Garth, Abbeytown, denies murder and the trial continues.
