Crossbow killer lay in wait and fired from close range, court told
ACROSSBOW killer was probably hiding behind a wall waiting for a pensioner to come out before he shot him, a court heard yesterday.
Forensic firearms expert Andre Horn was called in to investigate the murder of Gerald Corrigan, who was shot with a bolt outside his home at Gof Du, near Holyhead, on Good Friday, April 19, last year.
A 3D video construction clip was played to the jury, which at the end pinpointed where Mr Horne concluded the killer fired the crossbow bolt from which hit and later killed the 74-year-old.
He told a trial at Mold Crown Court Mr Corrigan was shot with a broadhead, which is usually used to hunt larger animals. Hunting with bows is illegal in the UK, said Mr Horne.
Broadheads have razor-sharp edges to sever arteries so animals rapidly bleed to death. They are not designed for target practice – because the razors get damaged.
Mr Horne examined the wall behind the satellite dish where Mr Corrigan was shot. Two blades from the bolt were recovered at the base of the dish, the other was recovered by a chair near the dish.
Other parts of the bolt were recovered nearby. He looked at the pebble-dashed wall, where there was blood spatter. There were two areas where the pebbles had come off. They were in the centre of blood spatter and probably the result of the bolt impacting the wall, the court heard.
The broadhead blades would have fallen off when the arrow struck the wall and plastic tip broke off – and landed. The arrow then bounced back. The assumption is it came from left to right and then bounced back at an angle after striking the wall.
Mr Horne said the trajectory of the bolt through Mr Corrigan’s body was investigated to help locate where the shooter was when the arrow was fired.
He concluded the crossbow was fired from “the field side of the wall” with a shooting trajectory towards the satellite dish.
Mr Horne said he wouldn’t have expected the shooter to be in the open and would have expected him to be hidden, probably behind the wall, next to some shrubbery, where he could view the front door and satellite dish.
The forensic firearms expert also said he arrived at his conclusion by taking into account that most of the blood spatter was between the satellite dish and the window and the position of the bolt.
Home Office pathologist Brian Rodgers also gave evidence about the devastating damage the bolt caused Mr Corrigan when it went through him. Mr Rodgers said it must have been from “a powerful weapon”.
Dr Rodgers concluded the bolt must have been fired from “not too great a range” and from the wall around Gof Du “either just inside the wall, or just outside the wall”.
The trial also heard from Gary Tremble, the director of leading crossbow supplier Outdoorhobbies Ltd, who said the bolt that struck Mr Corrigan was of “low quality”, inaccurate unless at close range.
Jurors also heard further evidence about telematics data and CCTV footage on the day the Land Rover Discovery, at Gof Du around the time of Mr Corrigan’s shooting, was found burned out on June 3 last year.
Darren Dennis Jones, 41, of The Bryn Ogwen Estate, Penrhosgarnedd, and Martin Wayne Roberts, 34, of James Street, Bangor, changed their pleas at Mold Crown Court on Monday and admitted arson of a Land Rover Discovery.
Terence Michael Whall, 38, of Bryngwran in Anglesey, denies Mr Corrigan’s murder, perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to commit arson – by burning a Land Rover.
Gavin Jones, 36, of High Street, Bangor, denies conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and conspiracy to commit arson – involving the burning of a Land Rover.
The trial continues.