Father ‘tried to blame his own son aged 14 for shotgun murder’
‘You need to tell the truth, Dad’
A GUN enthusiast tried to falsely blame his 14-yearold son for shooting dead another father in a doorstep confrontation, a court heard yesterday.
Matthew Moseley, 50, allegedly blasted Lee Holt, 32, with a Beretta shotgun before handing the weapon to his son, Thomas.
Moseley sought to ‘manipulate’ his son into taking the blame for the murder on October 25 last year, jurors were told.
Mr Holt died of a single chest wound after the confrontation at Moseley’s home in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire.
In a video interview played to the jury, Thomas said: ‘You’d think he’d take responsibility for his own actions, but he didn’t.’
Moseley, who ran a gardening and tree surgery business, had allegedly been to a nearby range at Kelbrook Shooting Lodge earlier in the day.
He kept four guns in a cabinet in the hallway of his home.
The court heard Thomas had been involved in a long-running dispute with Mr Holt’s stepson, Wesley Metcalf, also 14.
A row had flared on social media between the pair earlier on October 25, with a suggestion they should have a fight, the jury was told. The messages were shown to Mr Holt and his partner, Kate Phelan – Wesley’s mother.
Mr Holt, a roadworker, and Mrs Phelan went over to Moseley’s house along with Wesley, and his friend Connor Dickinson. The adults began shouting and striking the front door.
Thomas said his father bent down and took out a shotgun from the gun cabinet next to the porch, loading it with three cartridges, the court heard.
Moseley then started to open the door and was allegedly shoved by Mr Holt from behind the door. He responded by putting the gun to his left shoulder and firing a cartridge, it is claimed. ‘I saw my dad open the door with his left hand, then move his hand to the stock [rear]. I saw someone’s foot come in and my dad just shoot him,’ the teenager said.
Moseley then allegedly handed Thomas the shotgun. The son initially confessed to the killing, telling police he had carried out the shooting ‘because I was covering my dad’s a**e... sticking up for him’. But he added: ‘He’s my dad, I love him to bits. But you’d think he’d take responsibility for what he’s done and not let his son take the blame for it.’
In the police van taking father and son to a court hearing, the teenager pleaded with his father to admit he had fired the shot.
He said: ‘I told him, “You need to tell the truth, Dad”, and he said, “I will do”. But he didn’t.’
Charges have all since been dropped against Thomas. Rob- ert told the O’Sullivan prosecution Preston Crown QC, case prosecuting, Court: that from ‘It is the outset [Moseley] has sought to manipulate his son into accepting responsibility.’ Moseley initially spoke to police as a witness. He was later arrested but continued to pressurise his son, it is claimed. On October 27, the pair were recorded covertly having a whispered conversation in a police van. Mr O’Sullivan said: ‘[Moseley] was telling [Thomas] he was a minor and couldn’t go to prison. He was putting emotional pressure on his son.
‘He went on to say to Thomas, “Self-defence for you and [say] you didn’t know what you were doing. Me, different ball game”. I need to get out to protect your mum and the little ones.’
But Thomas responded: ‘Dad, please just tell them so I can go home.’ Speaking to his wife Julia while in prison, Moseley allegedly said: ‘I weren’t even f****** aiming. I just picked it up and it just... “bang!”’
Mr O’Sullivan said: ‘Was it the truth being revealed in an unguarded moment?’
Moseley denies murder. The trial continues.