Mum of alleged victim takes to stand in trial

A NUNEATON mum allegedly murdered in a horrific beating was “a happy child” who went on to have challenges in life both in relation to health problems and drugs, a court has heard.

That was the picture painted by Dionne Clark’s mother who took to the stand in the murder trial of Dominic Wallis and Elizabeth Ellis.

The pair are accused of the murder of 27-year-old Dionne at Wallis’ home in Cornish Close, off Ansley Common, in June this year.

Wallis’ parents Karen and Kingsley Wallis are also charged with perverting the course of justice.

Giving evidence on day three of the trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Miss Clark’s mother, Sandra Clark, told the jury that Dionne had been a “very happy child” who went on to have four children of her own.

Those children are now aged 10, nine, six and five but Dionne had not been able to keep them all – with children’s services involved – and only her eldest child was living with her at the time of her death. Asked by Annabel Darlow QC, prosecuting, whether Dionne had issues with drugs, Sandra replied: “She had some, yes.

“I believe she had stopped taking drugs and was trying to go for everything – having her kids back.”

Sandra Clark also told how her daughter had a number of health issues. She said: “She did have an illness – ADHD. She would be in the house and her feet would start dancing. We used to call her ‘Dancing Feet.’

“She later got diagnosed with ADHD. She came to terms with what she had. Before that she had outbursts and didn’t know what was happening. Once she was diagnosed she was settled with it.”

Karen Wallis’s sister Vanessa Patterson also took to the witness box and said that she received a phone call from Karen on Saturday, June 17, at 12.27pm.

She said: “The call was out of the ordinary. She asked for my sister Sandra’s number.

“I asked her if anything was wrong. I actually said ‘is everything okay’? She said ‘far from it.’

“I can’t remember whether she said there was a dead body in Dominic’s house but I remember the words ‘dead girl in Dominic’s house’.’”

Mrs Patterson asked why Karen Wallis needed the other sister’s number and Karen had told her “she wanted to get Sandra’s advice. I said “you don’t need to call her just call the police”.

Mrs Patterson acknowledged the reason she thought Karen wanted to contact Sandra was because her husband, Graham Golder, was a former detective and wanted his advice. Sandra Golder herself told the jury that she received a call from Karen Wallis at around 12.30pm.

She said Karen asked to speak to Graham, but he wasn’t there.

“She said Dominic and Libby had got up and there was a girl dead on the floor in the sitting room,” Mrs Golder told the court.

“The first thing I said was to telephone the ambulance and the police. Then I called Graham to tell him.”

Graham Golder, a retired Metropolitan Police detective, told the jury that after speaking to his wife on the phone that day, he rushed home and when he arrived his wife was on the phone to Karen Wallis.

He said: “I took the phone from my wife and said to Karen ‘what has happened?.’ She said there is a dead body in the front room of Dominic’s house. I said phone the ambulance first, then phone the police.”