Court hears forensic report

BLOOD spatter experts told a jury how a Coventry man was violently assaulted on a bedroom floor.

Lee Brooks was found with serious head injuries in the bedroom of a property in Hugh Road, Stoke, in August last year.

The court has previously heard how police found Mr Brooks’ skull had been smashed open.

The 36-year-old died in hospital five days later on August 31 despite emergency surgery. Drew Thorpe, 19, of Hollis Road, Stoke and 48-year-old Stephen Weeks, of Hugh Road, both deny murder.

Forensic scientist Jo Millington told a jury at Warwick Crown Court that blood stain patterns showed Mr Brooks was on the floor for “a significant part” of the alleged assault involving a hammer and a spanner.

Miss Millington visited the house in January where she tried to recreate various aspects of the attack to determine who was where.

She analysed blood staining on the floor and on the bed, as well as blood splatter found on the wardrobe, a TV unit, a wall and a wicker trunk.

During her evidence she said the blood patterns showed “impacts at low level occurring on the floor at the corner of the bed”.

She told the court: “You can see that on the bottom left hand corner of the bed base there is a red brown area of staining which to some degree you can see on the floor in the corresponding area.

“In general terms the majority of the blood was in the area of the room.”

She added that her findings were indicative of multiple blows being made into a source of wet blood.

After exploring her evidence with the jury, Miss Millington told them her conclusions.

She said that her findings “were in keeping with Mr Brooks having been on the floor at the foot of the bed when he sustained multiple blows including to his head, causing significant blood loss and tissue and hair fragments to be distributed onto adjacent surfaces”.

Miss Millington also concluded that cast-off blood showed that something, possibly a weapon, was swung close to the wall and that voids in the blood splatter showed where someone had been standing.

The trial continues.