TORTURE FROM

VICTIM JIMMY SUFFERED HORRIFIC ABUSE Court told murder gang of three women and a man in a wheelchair sliced open vulnerable dad’s scrotum and force-fed him one of his testicles

A VULNERABLE father of two allegedly murdered by a “cultlike” group was force-fed his own testicle, a court heard yesterday.

Jimmy Prout, 43, suffered a campaign of torture by wheelchair-bound car crash victim Zahid Zaman, 43, and three women, Myra Wood, 50, Kay Rayworth, 56, and Ann Corbett, 26, Paul Greaney QC said.

The prosecutor warned a jury the injuries Jimmy suffered in the weeks before he died were so horrific that they would have to “control their emotions” as they considered the evidence.

He said: “Awfully, on one occasion, his scrotum was sliced open and his testicle was removed. He was then forced to eat it. “His teeth were removed with a hammer and chisel and, on a further occasion, he was forced to submit to intercourse with a dog.

“Over a period of time, he wasn’t just mistreated, he was tortured. The four defendants took part in that violence against him, either inflicting injuries directly or assisting or encouraging the other members of the group to do so.

“In the end, this conduct was to cause the death of Jimmy Prout.

“How Mr Prout was treated belongs in the Dark Ages.”

Newcastle Crown Court heard Jimmy became “a focus for Zaman’s anger” in 2015 over the alleged theft of £300 by a mutual friend.

Greaney said Zaman was the leader of the group, who dumped Jimmy’s mutilated body on wasteland near the home he shared with Wood and Corbett in Percy Main, Northumberland.

They then allegedly set about covering their tracks, asking people if they had seen Jimmy.

His body wasn’t found until weeks later and Greaney said Corbett and Rayworth returned to the decomposing corpse to get his cash card and “fleece” him even after his death.

The court heard when Jimmy visited North Tyneside General Hospital on November 27, 2015, a doctor noted stab wounds to his scrotum, left shoulder and left upper arm as well as bruises to his arms, head, face, legs and back.

Evidence indicated that he died on February 9 last year.

About six weeks later, police received a call from Zaman in which he claimed Corbett had attacked him and killed Jimmy, in an attempt to “throw her to the wolves”.

Corbett, Zaman, Wood and Rayworth all deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult.

They all pled guilty to perverting the course of justice.

The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.