‘Lover used me for drugs, and my flat’
THE man accused of the brutal murder of a young woman has told how she used him, and his flat.
Jason Shaun Farrell is said to have murdered 22-year-old Sammy-Lee Lodwig at his Swansea home in April this year.
Miss Lodwig suffered multiple stab and slash wounds to her face, throat and chest, and was pronounced dead at the scene. A blood-stained kitchen knife was found nearby.
Farrell has admitted her manslaughter, but denies murder.
He also denies a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm on his neighbour, Christopher Maher, the week before the fatal assault on his partner.
Yesterday, the 49-year-old entered the witness box at Swansea Crown Court to give evidence in his defence.
He told the jury he began abusing solvents and Valium when he was 11, quickly moving on to alcohol, amphetamine, and cannabis. By the time he was in his late twenties he said he was addicted to heroin and crack cocaine.
He told the court he had spent much of his life in care, in a young offenders institution, or in prison and had become “institutionalised” and as a result “struggled” to cope in the outside world.
He said his experiences had “desensitised” him to violence.
In response to questions from his barrister, Sarah Elliott QC, he said he began a relationship with Miss Lodwig’s mother, Sarah, around 2000 – which lasted some five years.
Farrell said after serving lengthy prison sentences he returned to Swansea and met Miss Lodwig again in 2018.
He said he first bumped into her near Swansea Central police station while he was walking his dog and she was smoking the drug Spice with her friends.
He said he went on to start a sexual relationship with her.
Farrell said Miss Lodwig and her mother became regular visitors to his Mount Pleasant flat, where they would all take drugs together.
The defendant said the women would often stay with him for days at a time, but would “disappear on their money day” – the day their benefit payments arrived.
The court heard details of a text message sent by Miss Lodwig to a friend in which she invited her around to Farrell’s flat for “a pipe” [crack cocaine].
Asked by his barrister who the message was sent to, Farrell replied: “It was one of the working girls.”
He also said Miss Lodwig would borrow money off him, and get drugs on tick by giving dealers his name.
Farrell, of Carlton Terrace, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, denies murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm, and the case continues.