A Scots Army veteran may have tried desperately to fight off a teen killer before his body was burned and dumped in a makeshift grave, a jury has heard. Jack Crawley, who turned 20 this year, led police to the skeletal remains of married dad-of-two Paul Taylor on May 1.
Crawley admits the ex-serviceman’s manslaughter but denies murder. Crawley further denies a second charge, which alleges that he tried to murder a second man with a hammer during a gay tryst in Yorkshire during early January after skipping bail.
Mr Taylor went missing from his Annan home last October having hidden a sexual interest in men from loved ones. Carlisle Crown Court heard Mr Taylor’s skull was bludgeoned at least 10 times before his body was set alight, “dragged” into a makeshift grave and hidden.
A pathologist, Dr Matt Cieka, has concluded that a claw hammer could have caused dreadful skull injuries. The expert also concluded fractures he found did not tie in with Crawley’s account that Mr Taylor had fallen back and hit his head during an altercation between the pair.
Dr Cieka commented on two traumatic impacts to Mr Taylor’s left elbow. He concluded that these occurred before any burning began, and told jurors: “This trauma may well have been the result of defensive action by the deceased, the victim raising his arm to protect himself from a weapon.”
Absence of organs and soft tissue within Mr Taylor’s remains meant the pathologist gave a formal death cause of “unascertained”. “However, any of the impacts seen to the head, particularly the ones that penetrated the skull, would be associated with a significant likelihood of a fatal outcome,” he stated.
Crawley had been arrested on suspicion of Mr Taylor’s murder before being bailed on November 17 with strict conditions to remain in Carlisle. But on New Year’s Eve he left the city.
He bought a new SIM card from a Tesco in Glasgow the following day. On January 2, in Aberdeen, he had his hair cut before travelling to York via Edinburgh. On a new phone he activated the gay dating app Grindr, signing in with the fake name Kyle.
In York on January 4, Crawley bought items including a claw hammer from a DIY store. The following day he began chatting on Grindr with a man 30 years his senior. “Hi. What you looking for?” Crawley asked, using the name Kyle. “Fun. You,” the man replied.
In darkness on the late afternoon of January 5, the man collected Crawley in his car in York. They drove to a secluded spot close to an old airfield at nearby Acaster Malbis.
“What was the purpose of meeting up with Mr Crawley?” prosecutor David McLachlan KC asked the man as he gave evidence during Crawley’s trial. “Basically it was a quick sexual encounter,” the man replied.
The man attempted to perform a sex act on Crawley, who had earlier been “nervous” while trying to roll a joint. As things “progressed”, the man felt a hard object around the waistband of Crawley, who said it was a torch. A car then drove by slowly with lights off before leaving, prompting Crawley’s mood to change.
The man’s sexual advances continued. “I felt a very hard, severe blow on my head,” he told jurors. “I jumped up very quickly. I was hit a further three times,” he said. Only after two of these blows to his arm did the man see the weapon. “A hammer,” he told the jury.
“He didn’t say anything,” he replied when asked about Crawley’s demeanour during the attack. “It was all very, very quick. He just basically wanted to hurt me. He was aggressive.”
The injured man disarmed Crawley, who ran away, and threw away the claw hammer. Crawley denies attempting to murder the man and is said to claim he acted in self-defence after a knife was pulled on him. “There was no knife at all,” said the man during cross-examination by Crawley’s counsel, Toby Hedworth KC.
The trial continues.
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