Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘I had nothing to do with gun death’
Man ‘agitated’ by accusation in murder trial Shot report at mother’s home
A former friend of a man accused of murdering ex-soldier Philip Fox has denied any involvement in the killing.
Damon Gower became annoyed when it was suggested to him that he had something to do with the fatal shooting of the homeless 59-year-old.
Oliver Saxby, QC for accused Richard Donovan, said: “Are you sure you didn’t have something to do with what happened?”
Mr Gower replied: “Yes, I am sure. I am starting to get agitated with this now.”
He agreed he had never seen Donovan, 26, with a gun and added: “As much as I don’t like him, I am not going to lie.”
Donovan is alleged to have “brutally and callously” used a cherished sawn-off shotgun to murder Mr Fox simply because he may have wanted to kill somebody.
The jury at Maidstone Crown Court has been told that “obsessed” Donovan knew the victim would not be missed because he lived alone in a tent in a secluded wood in Canterbury.
Donovan’s girlfriend at the time, Daisy Avery, had been with him on the day it was believed Mr Fox was shot.
Prosecutor Sandip Patel said Donovan was, on August 4 last year, drunk and carrying the firearm in a drawstring bag when Miss Avery followed him to B&M Bargains on the Riverside Retail Park, Wincheap, along a footpath. He sat by a tree and removed the shotgun from a bag. Mr Fox came along and Donovan appeared to be worried about what he had seen.
They followed Mr Fox to his tent and Donovan chatted with him, before asking Miss Avery to go and buy tobacco.
As she returned, it was alleged, she heard a loud bang. She told of Donovan running towards her, putting the shotgun in the bag.
He told her, she said, the man was dead, having been shot in the face, and his brains had gone all over the tent.
Donovan, of Westhorne Avenue, Eltham, south east London, denies murder.
Tony Hindmarsh, 36, of Romney Sands Holiday Park, The Parade, Greatstone, denies supplying Donovan with the shotgun between May 1 and June 30 last year. He admits possessing prohibited ammunition. Police investigated a report of a gun being fired at the home of Donovan’s mother a day before he is alleged to have shot Mr Fox, the trial heard.
Two officers went to the semi-detached house in Ingoldsby Road, Thanington, after a neighbour dialled 999 to report hearing a loud bang.
Colin Lax said he could not be sure whether he heard the shot of a gun, or a car backfiring, on August 3 last year, but said he erred on the side of caution and called the police.
When Donovan, who was at the house with his mother and girlfriend, was asked about the noise, he claimed he had only punched a wall in his back garden.
The court was told that when police called at the house on August 3 Donovan appeared drunk and agitated.
“Donovan said he was out in the back garden and had punched a wall,” said PC Sophie Wolfenden. “I remember looking at his hand and there was no injury.
“He was slightly intoxicated and agitated at us being there.”
Officers did not go into the back garden or speak to Mr Lax next door.
He had also reported hearing shouting coming from the property up to 10 minutes both before and after the bang.
A schoolboy neighbour told police during the murder investigation he recalled hearing a gunshot on two occasions in a garden in the cul-de-sac but could not give specific dates.
The trial has also heard from several people who lived with him in Ramsgate and claim to have seen him cleaning a sawn-off shotgun he kept hidden inside a sofa.