Coin collector ‘ killed for his Beatrix Potter 50p pieces’

A cOIn enthusiast was killed by a fellow collector who tried to set off a gas explosion to cover his tracks, a court heard yesterday.

Gordon McGhee, 52, was found lying in blood with 14 stab wounds after being attacked in his bed in the early hours of the morning.

He had kept his coins, including limited edition Beatrix Potter 50p pieces, locked in a box in his flat. Most of the collection went missing after his death and has never been recovered.

The gas oven had been left on and a burning towel put in the hall in a bid to destroy evidence, the jury was told.

His friend and fellow coin lover Danny Bostock, 32, had been with Mr McGhee hours before and was later arrested.

Prosecutor Andrew Jackson described the attack as ‘determined and brutal’ on the opening day of the trial in which Bostock is charged with murder and attempted arson.

Mr Jackson said the defendant had wanted his friend’s collection, having swapped his own Beatrix Potter coins with other local enthusiasts in the hours before the fatal attack in colchester.

‘He went there to burgle Mr McGhee’s home,’ Mr Jackson told Ipswich crown court. ‘He was disturbed during the burglary by Mr McGhee and so he murdered Mr McGhee by stabbing him several times.’

The ‘ catastrophic’ injuries covered the victim’s face, neck and upper body. Two pene-trated his chest and lungs, causing massive bleeding.

Mr Jackson told the jury that Bostock had turned on the gas in the kitchen and ‘let it flow freely’. He added: ‘He then took a towel and lit it, leaving it lying on the floor in the hallway and did it immediately before he left. He did that to try and cause a gas explosion.’

Mr McGhee’s body was found the next day by neighbours who went into the flat when he failed to answer the door, which he usually left unlocked.

Mr Jackson added: ‘He left Mr McGhee lying in his own blood in his own home and tried to destroy his flat by fire.

‘He wanted to destroy Mr McGhee’s body and all traces of what he had done. He was arrested later and, when ques-tioned, denied any involvement in it.’

Mr McGhee had spent the previous evening last August drinking in a courtyard at his block of flats with two neighbours, another man and Bostock, the court heard.

The defendant, also of colchester, was allegedly seen on ccTV cycling away from the area wearing a pink Diesel T-shirt and a distinctive pair of brown Lonsdale trainers.

Mr Jackson said the trainers had not been recovered but a forensic scientist found that the soles of an identical pair matched tread marks found in blood at Mr McGhee’s flat.

Bostock’s DnA was also found on the towel which had been lit and the victim’s blood was discovered on the pedal of Bostock’s bicycle, the jury was told.

A post-mortem examination found Mr McGhee, who had limited mobility, had injuries to his hands and arms which showed he had tried to defend himself during the attack launched while he was still in bed. Mr Jackson said: ‘You may think this brutal stabbing in the early hours was this defendant’s chance to get his hands on Mr McGhee’s coin collection.

‘After the murder, the vast bulk of it couldn’t be found. We say it was this defendant who took it.’ Bostock denies the charges.

‘A determined and brutal attack’