Therapist accused of killing man, 74, with crossbow

A RETIRED lecturer was “callously” shot with a crossbow by a killer hiding behind a garden wall in the middle of the night, a court has heard.

A jury at Mold Crown Court heard that Gerald Corrigan, 74, was outside his home in a remote part of Holyhead, Anglesey, when he was hit by the crossbow bolt in what the prosecution alleges was a planned killing.

Sports therapist Terence Whall, 39, denies murdering Mr Corrigan, who was shot at about 12.30am on Good Friday, April 19, last year.

Peter Rouch QC, prosecuting, said Mr Corrigan, known as Gerry, left the house to adjust his satellite dish, which was at ground level in his front garden, after the signal was interrupted. He went outside and was fatally hit by a crossbow bolt.

Mr Corrigan, who thought he had been electrocuted by the Sky dish, shouted for his partner Marie Bailey, 64, who was in bed.

When paramedic Richard Alwyn Roberts arrived he found the garden gate was open and a crossbow bolt, covered in blood, was lying on the grass. Mr Corrigan died later.

The court heard that a Land Rover Discovery belonging to Whall’s partner Emma Roberts was found burnt out on June 3, two weeks after Whall was questioned by police about his possession of crossbows.

The GPS in the car was destroyed but information on it was found to show that on April 17 it had travelled to the driveway of Mr Corrigan’s home and then to nearby Porth Dafarch beach, in what Mr Rouch alleged was a “reconnaissance” before the killing.

Whall, of Bryngwran in Anglesey, and co-defendants Darren Jones, 41, Martin Roberts, 34, and Gavin Jones, 36, deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and conspiracy to commit arson in relation to the Land Rover, which Whall claimed had been stolen before it was found burnt out.

Roberts and Darren Jones deny arson.