CJ Hall Jury hears closing statements as case nears end
TOM Bryan may not have wanted Christopher ‘CJ’ Hall dead “but he wanted him seriously punished”, a court heard tjhis week.
Mr Hall, 28, of Queen’s Retreat in Cheltenham, died on July 8 after an attack in an alleyway off the lower High Street the previous evening.
Bryan, 21, of Priory Street, has pleaded not guilty to murder. His friend Michael Saunders admitted murder at an earlier hearing.
William Mousley, defending, and Anna Vigars, prosecuting, made closing speeches this week on the 11th day of Bryan’s Bristol Crown Court trial.
Ms Vigars said: “I want to start in the living room of Tom Bryan’s flat.
“If you walk into your living room and say to someone ‘we need to go’ it isn’t a coincidence that person comes with you.
“He looked at Michael Saunders and said, ‘We need to go.’ He wasn’t just encouraging Michael Saunders to go with him. He was instructing him.
“If you are Tom Bryan why bring Michael Saunders with you? He took Michael Saunders with him for a particular purpose - and that was to double the threat and the violence towards CJ Hall.”
Ms Vigars argued Bryan’s motive stemmed from a belief that Mr Hall burgled his sister Lauren in 2017 and attacked her on July 7, 2018.
Lauren Bryan has pleaded guilty to encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, by making the call to her brother which prompted the fatal attack.
Ms Vigars said: “This is a man who is capable of bearing a grudge, of wanting to deliver a beating a year after a burglary, even after all the property has been returned.
“Tom Bryan was so angry about it he decided it was appropriate to seek out CJ Hall.
“He doesn’t appear to have been remotely concerned about coming off worse in any of this. As he chillingly put it himself, he wanted to teach him a lesson.” Bryan’s claim that he did not plan an assault on Mr Hall with Saunders was a “lie”, Ms Vigars argued.
“How did Michael Saunders know he was supposed to be attacking anyone at all?” she asked.
“Tom Bryan is not just encouraging him. He is telling him who the target is and where the target is.”
Ms Vigars said Bryan was not really concerned for his sister’s safety that night.
“Tom Bryan is oh so worried about his hysterical sister that he doesn’t ring her or speak to her or find her that evening on the High Street,” she added.
“He doesn’t stop to assess the situation when he gets to the High Street. Now he blames his sister for it.
“Who is the one person who could have made an assessment of what it was really like when that car pulled up? He could.”
“He joins in with what Michael Saunders is doing. You know CJ’S wounds go 0.8 and 1cm deep - deep penetrations to the leg.”
She suggested Bryan could have used a screwdriver to cause these punctures.
Ms Vigars continued: “CJ Hall was completely defenceless. Tom Bryan and Michael Saunders attacked him together, one on his upper body and one on his legs.
“The one kicking his legs, Tom Bryan, tells you that once CJ was on the ground there shouldn’t have been any violence.
“If that’s what he really thought then why did he join in? Tom Bryan was absolutely right in it.
“He didn’t summon help because he was involved. He may not have wanted him dead, but he wanted him seriously punished.”
Ms Vigars said the assault causing the injuries was already happening when Tom Bryan was in the alleyway.
“He joins in an attack with Michael Saunders in which CJ is being attacked on the ground, and his head is being attacked,” she said.
“You can be quite sure he intended to seriously injure CJ Hall.”
Mr Mousley argued Saunders was responsible for “the lion’s share” of what took place in that alleyway.
He added: “Tom Bryan and Michael Saunders were misled into going to the lower High Street.
“Far from the description Tom Bryan’s sister was giving, she was not being threatened by Mr Hall. It was six of one and half a dozen of the other. But that is not the message that was passed on.”
Mr Mousley pointed out it was five months before a full statement was taken from Declan Flannery, Marcus Groome, Alice O’dell and Thomas Beney.
He said: “We all know time clouds our memories, plays tricks on our recollections and we try to fill gaps, reconstruct it in our own minds. That’s notwithstanding that they were 25 metres away and it was dark in the alleyway.”
Mr Mousley spoke of Bryan’s trainer which was left in the alleyway.
“If Tom Bryan was stamping to the upper body and head of CJ Hall, blood would have been projected,” the barrister added.
“There is no blood from CJ Hall on those trainers. Not a spot.
“How does that fit with Tom Bryan being a kicker and a stamper?”
Mr Mousley described the defendant as “polite, firm and consistent”.
“He admits he was stupid in hanging around with Saunders afterwards,” he said. “He admits his sister led him up the garden path.
“You, ladies and gentlemen, must decide if what was only a few seconds in his 21-year-old life means he is guilty of murder or manslaughter.
“He is, of course, guilty of assault, but that is not what he is charged with.
“The man who killed CJ Hall is guilty of murder. The woman whose lies brought the offence about is guilty to the offence she has pleaded guilty to.
“But the man who was there a few seconds, kicked twice to the legs, then stopped and left, is not guilty of murder or manslaughter.”
The jury has now started deliberations.
Michael Saunders, 24, from Delavale Road, Winchcombe, has pleaded guilty to murder.
Lauren Bryan, 28, of Alstone Lane, has pleaded guilty to encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, namely assault or affray.