A MAN charged with murdering a 65-year-old in Colwyn Bay told police he and his family were threatened by his co-defendants, a court heard.
Thomas Whiteley, 33, of Clos Emlyn, Old Colwyn, denies murdering David Wilcox at his home on November 20, 2023, as do David Webster, 43, of Lacey Street, Widnes; and Lauren Harris, 29, of no fixed abode.
The court previously heard Mr Wilcox was stabbed twice and assaulted with a weapon in his home on Bay View Road early on November 20.
At their trial at Mold Crown Court today (July 2), the jury was read Whiteley’s interviews with police officers on November 21 and 22, following his initial arrest.
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'You're going nowhere'
During a November 21 interview, Whiteley told police that, after coming across Harris and Webster in Colwyn Bay on November 19, Harris said they could all go for a drink at the address of her “sugar daddy”.
Mr Wilcox first met Harris in June 2023, before a relationship developed between them and she moved in with him.
Though matters initially seemed calm between the three defendants and Mr Wilcox on the evening of November 19, Whiteley said he returned from the toilet to find an argument had started.
He said he tried to leave, but had a knife held at him by Harris, who told him: “You’re going nowhere. You’re involved now. You’re sticking with us.”
'We'll find you and we'll hurt you'
Webster, Whiteley claimed, also told him: “I’ll kill your family… even if I go to jail, I know people,” so he said he “did as I was told”.
Whiteley, saying he was “petrified for my life”, recalled Mr Wilcox repeatedly being asked for the PIN code of his bank card by Webster and Harris.
Drugs had been consumed earlier that evening, while the court previously heard that, at 1.47am on November 20, Webster telephoned a number known to be a “local drugs line”.
After the attack on Mr Wilcox, the three defendants fled in his car at about 2.10am, which crashed moments later.
“We’ll find you and we’ll hurt you… get in this car, or you’re dead,” Whiteley said he was told.
After the crash, Whiteley fled alone, running in just his underwear to an ex-partner’s home having discarded his clothes on the seafront.
Once he arrived at her home, he called police saying he witnessed a stabbing and a robbery.
Whiteley said the confrontation started in Mr Wilcox’s dining room, where Webster assaulted him, and then moved into the kitchen, where Webster was “hitting” him.
Webster, sat in-between his two co-defendants in the dock, repeatedly scowled and muttered towards Whiteley as the police interviews were read aloud.
'Don't let him move'
Harris, Whiteley said, first stabbed Mr Wilcox after he refused to give her his bank card’s PIN code.
He eventually disclosed the code to her, but after she was then unable to withdraw money from his account at a cashpoint, Whiteley said she “stabbed him again” upon her return to his home.
The prosecution suggests Harris had gone out to get funds from Mr Wilcox’s account to buy drugs.
Whiteley claimed Webster told him, after Mr Wilcox had fallen to the floor, “Don’t let him move or you’re dead”.
'I just didn't want to die'
The only person he said he saw with a knife was Harris.
“I just stood there s******g myself – I just didn’t want to die. I was petrified of them both,” Whiteley told police.
“I wanted to protect my family, my kids.”
Asked why he thought throwing his clothes away was going to protect his family, Whiteley said: “I really don’t know… maybe I thought, if I strip now, cameras will see me, and police will come”.
He added: “I’m sat here now trying to help you (police) as much as I can.”
In a further interview on November 22, Whiteley told police: “I just really hope… justice is served for that poor man and his family.”
The prosecution alleges Harris was responsible for stabbing Mr Wilcox, and Webster and Whiteley for unlawful violence towards him, with all three ultimately responsible for his death.
The trial continues.
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