A man accused of murder told police he saw his dad drop to the ground in what looked like a drunken fall at a bungalow in which he was found dead several hours later.
Brian James Stanley Smith, 33, is on trial at Carlisle Crown Court.
Smith denies murdering 73-year-old Merchant Navy veteran Stan Smith on December 21 last year, with the prosecution alleging that anger took over during a row between the two men.
In court today, jurors watched body worn video footage which showed Brian Smith speaking with police who attended the Fell Close property in Silloth on the early morning of December 22.
This was after Smith had dialled 999 at around 5.30am, asking for an ambulance, having found his father lying in a hallway at the bungalow. Stan Smith was pronounced dead. A pathologist later concluded that the cause of death was pressure to the neck.
Speaking to police, Smith said he and his dad had earlier been in the town’s Albion pub where they watched football and had four alcoholic drinks each. Previously his dad hadn’t consumed alcohol for three years.
As they walked home, Smith said his dad made reference to something from 40 years ago, and began becoming irate.
Stan Smith started again at the bungalow and, said his son and grabbed him by the shirt before swinging a punch at him.
“I just looked at him,” Smith told police. “I said ‘right I’ve had enough of this now’, so I restrained him. Got a hold of him, put him in the bedroom. I pinned him down on the bed. I said ‘you need to calm down, just calm down. You know you’re my dad. What are you doing this for?’.
“I turned him over and he grabbed my hand and squeezed it.”
Smith said his dad then struck him in the mouth with his heel. “So at that point I’ve backed off because I’d never, like, you never lay a hand on your parents. You don’t do anything like that,” he said.
Stan Smith then stated he wanted him out of the house and, said Brian Smith, “told me I wasn’t his son”.
“And at that point he sort of fell and he landed like on his side. But he just started snoring and I just thought he was sleeping. So I left him to it. I thought ‘I’m angry at you, I’m disappointed, I’m leaving you to it’.”
Smith told police: “It just looked like a drunken fall.”
Smith left the address, went to his mother’s and then to hospital before heading back to Fell Close. He wanted to check on his father, he said, saying he shouldn’t have left him there in the first place.
“I tried to wake him up. He was on the floor. I didn’t get a response. I realised he was cold. Tried to get a pulse and I’ve just rang you straight away and that’s it,” Smith told police.
“I expected him to maybe just have a bit of a nap down there, realise what has gone on, wake up and get himself into bed.”
Smith described being devastated. “It’s just unfortunate that in a circumstance where we have a very rare argument this happens,” he added. “I just can’t believe he’s gone.”
The trial continues.
