A hospital security worker has gone on trial accused of murdering a Scottish dad in Carlisle.
Paul Taylor, 56, vanished from his home in Annan in Dumfries and Galloway shortly before midnight on October 17.
A major search was launched for Paul when his blue Vauxhall Corsa was discovered in Langwathby, Cumbria, two days after his disappearance. His remains were discovered by officers seven months later, on May 2, in a shallow grave in the Finglandrigg Wood area off the B5307 near Carlisle.
Jack Crawley, 20, denies murdering ex-Army man Paul on October 18, 2023. He also denied the attempted murder of a man in York several weeks later when he allegedly attacked him with a hammer on January 4.
Marcus Goodfellow, 20, is also on trial accused of assisting an offender. The court alleges that Goodfellow helped Crawley to dispose of a Vauxhall Corsa car “between October 17 and October 20, 2023.”
Opening the case for the prosecution, David McLachlan KC set out the allegations that the jury will hear evidence about.
He told the court Paul Taylor was last seen alive by his wife on the evening of Tuesday, October 17, at 9.30pm.
He said: “It’s clear from the evidence that you will hear that shortly after 11pm he went out in his car and crossed the border into England. He never came back home.
“His night clothes were found in the kitchen the next morning on Wednesday. He didn’t show up for work at The Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, where he worked as a catering manager.”
On the night of Paul’s disappearance last year, his car was seen travelling south of the border in Carlisle, going into the City West area around Yewdale and Sandsfield Park.
Detectives believe Paul’s car was then outside the Carlisle city limits on Moorhouse Road and Burgh Road toward Kirkandrews on Eden, in the early hours of Wednesday, October 18. The vehicle was parked up in Green Lane, Carlisle, on the Wednesday morning around 9.50am.
It was eventually found abandoned in the village of Langwathby, south of the city, at about 8.30am on Thursday, October 19.
A police investigation established there was no evidence Mr Taylor was alive after the early hours of October 18.
“It has since been established that, unbeknown to his wife and family, Paul Taylor had a sexual interest in men,” said Mr McLachlan.
The court heard Mr Taylor would meet up with men to engage in sexual activities in the Carlisle area and made arrangements on gay dating apps such as Grindr or FabGuys. There was evidence of a link between Mr Taylor and Crawley, the court heard.
Mr McLachlan referred to police interviews with Crawley when he denied murdering Mr Taylor and claimed he did not know him.
Mr McLachlan said: “On May 1, 2024, Jack Crawley, through his solicitors, informed the police where Paul Taylor’s body was. Police have since recovered Paul Taylor’s skeletal remains from Finglandrigg Wood.”
Twenty days after revealing this to the police, Crawley formally admitted ‘unlawfully killing’ Mr Taylor, entering a guilty plea at the crown court to the offence of manslaughter.
Mr McLachlan continued: “We anticipate that he will say he was trying to rob Paul Taylor’s car and it all went wrong. The prosecution does not accept this. The prosecution case is that this was a premeditated murder; that Jack Crawley had murder on his mind and carried out his plan by killing Paul Taylor.
“He then buried the body of Paul Taylor in a shallow grave at Finglandrigg Wood. As for Marcus Goodfellow, it is the prosecution case that he assisted Jack Crawley in trying to dispose of Paul Taylor’s car.”
When police arrested Crawley on November 15 last year, he was carrying a holdall containing numerous items of clothing and charcoal, as well as rubber gloves. He claimed he needed the gloves for his security work at the hospital.
The jury also heard a brief outline of what the prosecution say was the attempted murder of a man on the outskirts of York on January 4, weeks after he had been arrested on suspicion of murdering Mr Taylor but released on police bail.
The court heard Crawley left the home of his grandparents and travelled to Penrith, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and then York, where he visited a Tool Station outlet in the city. Among other items, he bought a hammer.
Mr McLachlan told the court the defendant arranged via gay dating website Grindr to meet a man at a remote location on the outskirts of York, where they engaged in sexual activity.
It was during this that Crawley attacked the man with a hammer, said the KC
Mr McLachlan continued: “Jack Crawley says he was acting in self-defence as [the other man] had threatened him with a knife.”
But the prosecution case said Crawley’s act was a “premeditated attempt to kill”.
Referring to the possible use of a hammer to cause fatal head injuries to Mr Taylor in October, Mr McLachlan suggested the York incident was an “almost carbon copy” of what happened in Carlisle.
The jury will begin hearing live evidence tomorrow. The case is expected to run for three weeks and four days.
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