Nuneaton News Mother of the accused continues to give evidence

THE mother of Dominic Wallis, who is accused of the murder of Nuneaton mum-of-four Dionne Clark, told a jury: “We may never know what happened”.

Karen Wallis, who with her husband Kingsley Wallis is charged with perverting the course of justice, was giving evidence for a second day at Birmingham Crown Court.

Her son, Dominic Wallis, and Elizabeth Ellis are charged with the murder of Miss Clark at his home in Cornish Close, Nuneaton, on June 16 last year.

As her cross-examination by junior prosecutor Thomas Baker drew to a close, Karen told the jury: “I don’t know if any of us will ever know what happened.”

Karen admitted that she had lied to the police initially, but said she did so as she genuinely believed Miss Clark had died as a result of a drug overdose.

She said she only believed that she and her husband would be “in trouble” for the fact they had delayed phoning the police on June 17, after Dominic and Ellis came to her shop in Galley Common and said there was a dead body in his house.

Karen said that it was only later that Ellis told her there had been an altercation at the house and Miss Clark had been tied up, at which point she realised things were not as she had been first led to believe. She also said that Miss Clark’s family deserved to know what had happened to her.

Karen said: “Her family need to know. That is why I took [Ellis] to the police station as soon as I knew she hadn’t died the way I had been told.”

The 59-year-old also told the court she originally believed a story that Miss Clark had got into a fight and “taken a beating”.

And it was only after Ellis painted a different version of events that she took Ellis, 20, to the police station on the Monday following Miss Clark’s death.

Karen said: “I was absolutely devastated when she told me a different story. That is why I took her to the police station. I didn’t believe anything else had happened, right up until the Monday evening. Until then I thought that girl had died of an overdose.”

Mr Baker quizzed Karen on why she believed the original story of Miss Clark being in a fight in the street, saying: “I suggest that story would have not struck you as credible when you first heard it?”

Karen replied: “The police believed it, they went out trying to find the person Dionne Clark was said to have fought with. Why would I not believe it if they did?”

In terms of the delay in calling the emergency services, Karen said she wanted her son to calm down before doing so, but admitted it was not the right thing to do.

“I didn’t do what I should have done,” she said. “Standing here now it is very easy to say that, but when you were there at that time, knowing your son is very poorly.

“I wanted him to calm down. I wanted him and Libby to make the call, not for me to do it or whatever. At the time I felt if he could calm down he could cope with the situation better.

“Part of me knows I should have phoned, part of me will always feel guilty for not phoning but the state he was in when he came down to the shop and the state Libby was in.”

Karen told the jury she had worried about her son for a long time because of his mental health problems.

She said: “I have been worried about him for years. I have tried to get help for years. I have intervened for years.

“Yes, I might have done the wrong things. I did what I thought was best at the time.

“I was frightened for him. I was frightened about everything that day. I was frightened about what was going to happen to him.”

Questioning also addressed the removal of evidence from the house, which included Kingsley removing five bags from the house in Cornish Close.

Karen said there had been an agreement to do so on the assumption Dominic and Ellis would then call the police - the chief concern being the removal of cannabis Dominic was growing there.

She said: “Dominic told Lee (Kingsley) he was frightened he was going to get into trouble for growing cannabis.”

It concluded Karen Wallis’s evidence and proceedings in the case until January 22 when the trial will resume.