Man shot dead with crossbow outside home after being conned out of £250,000, murder trial hears
A retired lecturer shot dead with a crossbow outside his remote home had been conned out of £250,000 before his death, a court has heard.
Gerald Corrigan, 74, was fatally hit while adjusting a satellite dish outside his house near Holyhead in Anglesey, north Wales, in the early hours of 19 April last year.
Before his death, Mr Corrigan and his partner Marie Bailey gave more than £250,000 to a man called Richard Wyn Lewis, Mold Crown Court was told.
Prosecutor Peter Rouch QC claimed there was evidence of an association between sports therapist Terence Whall, the man accused of murdering Mr Corrigan, and Mr Lewis.
Whall travelled to Mr Lewis’ home a number of times, including “in the dead of night”, in the week leading up to 31 May last year, Mr Rouch told the court.
He added that Whall placed a tracker on the car being driven by Mr Lewis.
The jury heard the defendant and Gavin Jones, 36, who together with Whall denies conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and conspiracy to commit arson, were arrested at Mr Lewis’ home on 31 May after an incident.
Mr Rouch said the incident “revolved around money, money that they – Gavin Jones and Terence Whall – wanted from Wyn Lewis, the man who had apparently conned Marie Bailey and Gerald Corrigan out of a large sum of money”.
He added that the “suggestion being told by Marie Bailey” was of a “fraud being perpetrated by Wyn Lewis upon them”.
David Elias QC, defending Whall, said there was no evidence linking Whall to Mr Lewis, who he described as a “fraudster”, before the shooting but said Mr Lewis owed Jones money for some work he had done.
He added: “Mr Whall had no connection to Mr Corrigan. He had, we say, absolutely no reason to do this.”
Whall initially told police he was at his home in Bryngwran, Anglesey, at the time of the shooting but the GPS from his Land Rover Discovery, which was found burnt out in a disused quarry in June, showed he was in the area of Mr Corrigan’s home, the court heard.
Mr Rouch said: “If it were not for the telematics, if it were not for the fact there was that black box in the Land Rover, which not just recorded information but sent it off to Jaguar Land Rover where it was retained and then deciphered, Mr Whall would have got away with his lies.”
Whall later claimed he had met friend Barry Williams for a sexual encounter near the house.
Mr Williams has denied being in a sexual relationship with Whall.
The trial continues.
Additional reporting by PA
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