A WOMAN charged with murdering a man in his Colwyn Bay home with a knife had previously been convicted for using a knife against her former partner, a court heard.
Lauren Harris, 29, of no fixed abode but from the Colwyn Bay area, is one of three who deny the murder of David Wilcox, 65, on Bay View Road in the early hours of November 20, 2023.
The prosecution alleges Harris was responsible for stabbing Mr Wilcox, and her two co-defendants for unlawful violence towards him, with all three ultimately responsible for his death.
David Wilcox (Image: Flora Camacho-Clowes)
Harris had moved in with Mr Wilcox after they began a relationship, but violence broke out at his home after she and her co-defendants had been drinking and taking drugs there on the night in question.
Earlier in their trial, at Mold Crown Court, the jury was told of each of the defendants’ previous convictions.
Harris has numerous previous convictions, including one for unlawful wounding, after she used a knife in 2022 against her then-partner in a block of flats.
She has also been convicted on several occasions for battery, including when she repeatedly punched a man to the head outside a Barclays bank in Wrexham in August 2021.
There are also numerous offences of assault on her criminal record, including against an emergency worker.
CCTV footage of some of these incidents was played to the jury.
Since 2014, meanwhile, Harris has been convicted of more than 40 offences of either theft, fraud, making off without payment, or burglary.
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David Webster, 43, of Lacey Street, Widnes, also denies murdering Mr Wilcox.
Webster has convictions for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, threatening behaviour, theft, and burglary of a dwelling on his record.
The latter of these took place in December 2017, the court heard, when the occupier of the dwelling was also subjected to violence.
Thomas Whiteley, 33, of Clos Emlyn, Old Colwyn, is the third and final defendant who has pleaded not guilty to Mr Wilcox’s murder.
Thomas Whiteley (L) and David Webster (R) arrive at Mold Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)
He has previous convictions for battery and assault, the latter of which involved him stamping on a man in 2022.
Footage of this incident was played to Whiteley as he gave evidence at the trial on Monday (July 15); he said watching it “makes me feel sick” and added: “that’s not me”.
Mr Wilcox, the jury was told, had no previous convictions, either in the UK or Germany, where he also lived for a period of time.
The trial, which began on June 11, will take a fortnight’s break from the end of this week, and will then resume on Monday, August 5.
Webster and Whiteley have both given evidence in their defence, while Harris opted not to take to the witness box.
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