‘Crossbow killer trapped by his own Land Rover’
Black box in car logged where accused was, says QC
AN ALLEGED murderer who shot a retired lecturer with a crossbow was caught by the black box in his new Land Rover, a court heard yesterday.
Gerald Corrigan, 74, was said to have been lured to his death in the middle of the night by Terence Whall, 39, who had tampered with his Sky dish.
When Mr Corrigan went outside his remote coastal home to fix it, Whall, it is alleged, fired a 20-inch bolt from the silent weapon.
The court heard it passed through Mr Corrigan’s body, penetrating his liver and bruising his heart. After exiting his chest it went through his arm, breaking it, before hitting a wall. Believing he had been electrocuted, Mr Corrigan stumbled inside.
Bleeding heavily, he shouted for his partner Marie Bailey, 64, who suffered from multiple sclerosis and was in bed.
Despite repeated operations he failed to regain consciousness and died just over three weeks later.
Police eventually identified sports therapist Whall as the alleged murderer after getting data from the black box of his sevenmonthold Jaguar Land Rover Discovery, Mold Crown Court in North Wales heard.
It placed him close to Mr Corrigan’s
Denial: Terence Whall Data: The new Land Rover tracks its movements home, near Holyhead, Anglesey, police with details about its murder, driving from his home, in at the time of the shooting, movements shortly before and on Bryngwran, to nearby early on Good Friday last year. the day Mr Corrigan was shot. Porth Dafarch Beach the next
Although the car was found The prosecution alleges the car’s evening, before leaving the vehicle burnt out a few weeks later, black box revealed that Whall had for an hour-and-a-half. destroying the black box, its data carried out a recce the day before Then, the prosecution say, Whall had been relayed and stored by Mr Corrigan was shot. It also walked the coastal path, close to Jaguar Land Rover, which provided captured Whall, who denies South Stack, in western Anglesey, to Mr Corrigan’s home, where he shot him at around 12.30am.
Peter Rouch QC, said: ‘We say Mr Whall interrupted the satellite signal, and, hiding behind the wall, waited for Mr Corrigan to exit. He then callously shot him.’
Prosecutors claim timings of the boot opening and closing were Whall getting and then storing his crossbow. Police established that
Whall had owned one prior to the killing. He claimed he had sold it.
Whall, who was living with his girlfriend and her two children at the time, said he was in the area to have secret gay sex.
No alleged motive has yet been mentioned for the attack. The trial continues.