ON NOVEMBER 14, 2023, David Webster met David Wilcox and Lauren Harris for the first time. Six days later, shortly after he and Harris murdered Mr Wilcox, 65, in his Colwyn Bay home, he was introduced to Arlo.
A two-year-old Dutch Herder police dog, Arlo was on duty with constable Luke Bennett in the early hours of November 20 when they were called to a single-vehicle crash on an A55 slip road. The car was Mr Wilcox’s Volvo.
Webster, 43, of Lacey Street, Widnes, who was convicted after trial of Mr Wilcox’s murder along with Harris last week and jailed for life with a 23-year minimum term, was a passenger in that car, and Harris, 29, the driver. The two fled Mr Wilcox’s home along with Thomas Whiteley – who was found not guilty – after he was stabbed twice and seriously assaulted.
At about 2.25am, PD Arlo detected human scent from the crashed Volvo. He tracked it, and led PC Bennett back into the centre of Colwyn Bay, where Webster had escaped Harris and fled alone. Roughly 10 minutes later, PD Arlo chased Webster down by Ivy Street Car Park.
Originally from Widnes, Webster moved to a chalet owned by his father at Llanddulas Chalet Park about three months earlier. He worked at Jaguar Land Rover in Halewood before sustaining a serious back injury, and was taking prescribed and illicit drugs when he moved to Llanddulas, a place where he “didn’t know anyone”.
READ MORE:
Colwyn Bay murder - Lauren Harris and David Webster jailed for life
Colwyn Bay murder - family's tribute to 'kind, caring' David Wilcox
He first met Mr Wilcox and Harris when he supplied her with crack cocaine outside his home on Bay View Road - Harris moved in there months earlier after ostensibly starting a relationship with Mr Wilcox. Not until November 19 did Webster first encounter Whiteley, 33, of Old Colwyn, having spent much of the previous days in Harris’ company, often taking drugs together or being driven by Mr Wilcox in his car.
Webster denied having a relationship with Harris, saying she was “not his type”, but said they had sex once because he was “depressed”, as he faced losing his accommodation at the chalet park. She spent two nights at the chalet with him, after which Webster said she was “doing my head in” and “freeloading off me”.
Though, Whiteley said that, when the three of them were at another Colwyn Bay flat earlier on November 19, Harris and Webster “kept saying they were together”, with Webster adding: “Anyone touches my girl, I’ll kill them.” After they first met, Harris texted Webster: “nice meeting you lol”, while Webster sent Harris messages calling her “fit”, “ace” and “sexy as hell”.
He and Harris also shoplifted together, with Webster admitting to being an “opportunist”. He stole aftershave from Boots in Llandudno with Harris because “I like aftershave” and “I saw they were easy to take”. While running from PD Arlo, he threw away two wristwatches - one of those was Mr Wilcox's, which he claimed he didn’t know belonged to him but simply “saw it there and took it”.
At sentencing, though, Mr Justice Edward Pepperall called him and Harris “callous and opportunistic thieves”, adding to Webster: “I am sure that the appalling truth is that you stole one of the watches from a dying man’s wrist.”
READ MORE:
Colwyn Bay murder trial - woman who stabbed man was ‘crazed animal’
Man charged with Colwyn Bay murder calls co-defendant ‘liar’ from dock
Whiteley, Harris and Webster spent the evening of November 19 at Mr Wilcox’s home after she invited them back there, drinking and taking drugs together. Matters were calm initially, but in the early hours of November 20, Webster, who smoked crack cocaine that night, said an argument which he presumed was about money broke out between Harris and Mr Wilcox.
Harris, Webster claimed, suddenly “erupted”, jumping out of her chair and running at Mr Wilcox, before Whiteley later began kicking and stamping on him. Webster said he “tried intervening” but was “in shock”, before Harris threatened him both prior to and after the car crash.
But Whiteley said it was Webster who joined Harris in the attack on Mr Wilcox, while she shouted: “Go on, babe… do him, babe.” He said Webster, who he believed was an ex-paratrooper, “petrified” him. In truth, Mr Justice Pepperall told him at sentencing, “It was you who bludgeoned your victim with a vodka bottle and caused appalling head injuries that might themselves have proved fatal.”
Until his murder charge on January 18, 2024, Webster was bailed and placed in a probation hostel, where he threatened to use a tin of beans to “cave the skull in” of whoever had taken his food. His previous convictions included for assault, threatening behaviour, theft and burglary, while Webster was serving a suspended sentence at the time of Mr Wilcox’s death.
On January 17, after being re-arrested, he gave no comment in a police interview, other than to say: “If you’d witnessed what I’d just f***ing witnessed, and you fear for your own safety, then most people will comply. That’s all I’ll f***ing say.”
He said he felt “ashamed” to have left Mr Wilcox, who he said was still alive when they fled his home, but complied with Harris and joined her in the car out of fear. Webster also required medical treatment after he was assaulted in prison in July, which caused the trial to be briefly paused.
Webster wept while giving evidence, but cut an angry figure for much of proceedings. At a pre-trial hearing in February, which the three defendants appeared at via separate video links, he shouted: “Why did you do what you’ve done, Lauren?” and called Harris a “b****”. She responded by putting her middle finger up to him.
During the trial, sat between his two co-defendants, he regularly scowled, cursed and shook his head; the latter his reaction to being convicted. On the first day of Whiteley’s evidence, he stormed out of the dock after calling him a “piece of s***”, a “liar”, a “f***ing rat” and a “slimy b******”. Post-verdict, he shouted: “You f***ing crazy b****, Lauren. You f***ing a*******.” The profanities continued at his sentencing, during which he was repeatedly told to be quiet. His final act was to tell Harris to "burn in hell".
Ultimately, the jurors saw through his red mist. Webster, along with Harris, was responsible for Mr Wilcox’s murder, which Mr Justice Pepperall labelled “brutal and senseless” during sentencing. Consequently, he is now locked up until at least he is aged 65.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here