Murder trial latest
BUT HE INSISTS HE DIDN’T MEAN TO KILL HIM
A YOUNG man accused of murdering a schoolboy wept in the witness box as he told a jury: “I still accept my actions caused the death of Alex Rodda.”
Matthew Mason, 19, also told jurors Alex was still breathing when he left him in the woods after hitting him over the head with a spanner during a scuffle.
The teenager said he threw the 15-year-old’s phone out of his car having driven away from the scene, but returned ‘mainly to move him’ after realising he had died.
Mr Mason is accused of murdering Alex.
The prosecution has previously told the murder trial at Chester Crown Court Mr Mason beat Alex to death with the large metal tool in a wooded area near Ashley, Cheshire, on December 13 last year.
Mr Mason, then 18, murdered the schoolboy after they entered into a sexual relationship, the Crown alleges.
He paid Alex more than £2,000 over a three-week period after Alex allegedly threatened to reveal the relationship, jurors have been told.
Mr Mason, the jury has heard, ‘didn’t want anyone to find out he was gay’.
His barrister said his client arranged a rendezvous to tell Alex ‘the blackmail had to stop’.
Yesterday, the defendant claimed the schoolboy told him: “I can either ruin your life financially or ruin it socially.”
Mr Mason, of Ash Farm in Ollerton, Knutsford, denies murder. He admits he hit Alex with a wrench, but says he acted in self-defence and that he lost control after being provoked.
He told the jury he didn’t mean to kill Alex, or seriously hurt him, and that the schoolboy attacked him.
Mr Mason, giving evidence, broke down in tears after saying he had started to question his sexuality after receiving messages from Alex – and became suicidal due to the situation he found himself in.
Asked about his sexuality, Mr Mason said: “I’ve never had any trouble with my sexuality before.
“I’ve always been straight and been in relationships with girls, but after a couple of weeks of receiving messages from Alex Rodda, I started questioning this and thought I was bisexual.
“Even after me and Caitlyn (Lancashire, his ex-girlfriend of two years) separated after Alex Rodda messaged her, I still carried on seeing her.
Asked if he admitted responsibility for Alex’s death to Ms Lancashire, Mr Mason said ‘yes’.
Asked if he accepts responsibility, he said: “I still accept my actions caused the death of Alex Rodda.”
Mr Mason was then asked how he felt about that. “Ashamed,” he replied.He told the court Alex had messaged him first on Facebook, asking for him to ‘add him back’ on Snapchat.
Mr Mason said they had brief conversations initially, before the messages started to change in nature.
Mr Cole QC told the jury that on November 3, 2019, Mr Mason added Alex as a payee to his bank account and paid him a total of several hundred pounds over several payments .
Asked why he did this, Mr Mason said: “He just asked for it.
“He was saying if I didn’t pay it, he would tell everyone what happened. He did say to me on one occasion ‘I can either ruin your life financially or ruin it socially’.
After Alex allegedly asked him for £500, Mr Mason told the jury: “I said it was getting too much and I couldn’t afford it. He said the same as before, he’d put it on social media.”
Moving to the events of December 12, the pair drove up to a wooded area near where his parents farmed.
On arriving he tool a spanner from within his car. Asked why, he said: “Because I felt threatened by Alex, I thought I might need it for protection because I wanted to have a conversation with Alex about what he had been putting me through mentally and couldn’t afford to carry on making the payments.
“He said ‘you’re f***ing stupid, you f***ing idiot, wasting my time, messing me about. I told you I would ruin your life financially or socially’. Then he pushed me over.
“He carried on calling me f***ing stupid. The spanner fell out of my jumper when he pushed me over.
“He picked the spanner up and
started swinging it around and he hit me on the right side of my forehead. [He hit me] hard.
“He was stood up. There was one blow to my head and he tried to hit me again, I’m sure he was aiming for my head, but I think it hit me on my left shoulder or right shoulder.
“I was trying to get up off the floor. I was trying to get the spanner off him. He was punching and I did eventually get the spanner off him.
“I did hit Alex over the head. I remember hitting him at least twice then I can’t remember after that.”
“Did you take him into the woods to kill him?,” Mr Cole asked. “No,” Mr Mason said.
“Was any of what happened planned?” Mr Cole asked.
“No,” he said. (Proceeding)