Woman accused of murdering Colwyn Bay man had ‘coercive mess’ with him

Lauren Harris, 29, of no fixed abode, denies murdering 65-year-old David Wilcox at his home on November 20, 2023, as do her co-defendants, David Webster, 43, of Lacey Street, Widnes; and Thomas Whiteley, 33, of Clos Emlyn, Old Colwyn.

At their trial at Mold Crown Court today (June 27), Marcia Wilcox, whose marriage to Mr Wilcox ended about 10 years earlier but who remained living in his Bay View Road home with him, said that living with Harris after she moved in was a “nightmare”.

The court previously heard that Mr Wilcox, who first met Harris in June 2023, was stabbed twice and assaulted with a weapon in his home early on November 20.

David Wilcox (Image: Flora Camacho-Clowes)

'It was a nightmare'

Mrs Wilcox, giving evidence in person in court today, said she eventually moved out of the home on October 20, such were the issues that had arisen.

She recalled a “cycle of shouting and abuse” after Harris moved in, and said she contacted police on several occasions afterwards.

“She (Harris) said to me once that I was just a carer,” said Mrs Wilcox, who lived in the main body of the property, with Mr Wilcox in its self-contained basement flat.

“Several times, I went down to him and told him: ‘You need to stop. You need to sort yourself out’. It was a nightmare.

“I remained living there (until October) but it was awful to live there. I tried everything until I thought: ‘I’d better move out’.”

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While being cross-examined by Richard Pratt KC, Harris’ barrister, Mrs Wilcox told him: “It wasn’t a relationship. It was a coercive mess. You try living with that shouting and screaming.”

The jury was also shown footage of police officers attending the property on October 9, 2023 after reports of a disturbance.

Harris could be heard saying she was “sick of her (Mrs Wilcox)” and had “had enough of her”, as well as denying that there had been a “domestic”, or “any shouting”.

'Everyone was worried about him'

David Wilcox (Image: Flora Camacho-Clowes)

Robert Wilcox, one of Mr Wilcox’s four sons, told the jury today that, in the months leading up to his death, his father began “borrowing money a lot more regularly”.

Whereas phone calls between them had previously been lengthy, Robert Wilcox said their conversations became “very brief”.

On one occasion in September, Robert Wilcox said Harris took his father’s mobile from him while he was on the phone to him.

He said she told her, while talking with “slurred” speech, “we are selling the house” and “we are going to move”, as well as saying they were engaged, which, to Robert Wilcox, seemed “bizarre”.

“After that conversation, when Lauren took his phone, I was really concerned,” he told the jury.

“It was just very strange behaviour. When I asked my dad, he kind of brushed it off and said: ‘Don’t worry about that’. It seemed odd.”

Another of Mr Wilcox’s sons, Maxim, said the speed with which Harris moved in with him appeared “strange” and “very quick”.

“It sounded more like she had told him she was moving in to his flat,” he said.

“Everyone was worried about him.”

When asked why Harris appeared to contribute nothing financially, Maxim Wilcox said his father would tell him she "had her own outgoings, and two children to provide for".

'This is not going to end well'

Black Cloak, Colwyn Bay (Image: GoogleMaps)

Michael Thelwell, a friend of Mr Wilcox’s who he met through frequenting the Black Cloak pub in Colwyn Bay (from which Harris was barred), said he questioned him about a shopping list which dropped out of his pocket once.

Two-thirds of this list, he said, comprised alcohol and cigarettes.

Mr Thelwell said Mr Wilcox’s relationship with Harris became a “constant conversation” between them, but that he would maintain that he was “going to save her”.

He had advised him to “just walk away from this”, and warned him: “this is not going to end well”.

“I wanted him so badly out of that relationship,” Mr Thelwell added.

“He was such a friendly character. He would talk to anyone, whether he knew them or not.”

'Shouting and arguments'

Police at Bay View Road, Colwyn Bay on November 20, 2023 (Image: Submitted)

A neighbour of Mr Wilcox’s, Helen Ainge, said she noticed police regularly attending his home after Harris’ arrival.

She said she “often heard shouting and arguments”, so much so that she decided to start sleeping in a rear bedroom of her house, and stopped working from home due to the noise.

The prosecution alleges that Harris was responsible for stabbing Mr Wilcox, and Webster and Whiteley for unlawful violence towards him, with all three ultimately responsible for his death.

Two knives found in Mr Wilcox’s car, which crashed moments after the three defendants fled his home in it on November 20, were forensically examined, with DNA evidence from a black handle knife which had his blood on it generating a scientific proposition.

It was deemed one billion times more likely that the DNA mix on that knife came from Harris, Mr Wilcox and two other individuals, rather than coming from a DNA mix which excluded Harris.

A police cordon in place in Colwyn Bay on November 20 (Image: Aaran Lennox)

Likewise, forensic analysis led to a similar proposition that it was one billion times more likely that the DNA mix on the black handle knife came from Webster, Mr Wilcox and two others, rather than from a DNA mix which excluded Webster.

A jacket which Whiteley discarded near the sea was found to have Mr Wilcox’s blood on both of its sleeves, meanwhile.

“The forensic evidence exists against all three,” prosecutor Andrew Ford KC said during his opening speech at the trial on June 11.

The trial will continue tomorrow.