By Andrew Young-
A man admitted in a recording to his parents that he blew off his victims head, in a detailed revelation of the violent manner in which he killed the man. The bugged recording in prison is being used against the man in a murder trial that may prove to be very dramatic.
The Bradford was shot in the head over a drug debt , a Court in Bradford, Yorkshire has heard. Jurors at Bradford Court heard the harrowing allegation that 29 year old James Sutcliffe allegedly killed Tyron Charles, also 29, in a shipping container on a smallholding off Foster Park View on September 6 last year.
The court heard he later concealed the victim’s body on the moors, which police say was only discovered after secretly bugged conversations in prison, in which James Sutcliffe spoke of the crime to his parents – Kevin and Janet Sutcliffe, aged 60 and 62 – and the three spoke of “destroying” the corpse
Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley QC told the jury that in the run-up to the events on September 6, James Sutcliffe had been in conversations with a man called Adrian Williams over a drug debt and a cannabis crop. Lumbley said “drugs were plainly involved” in dealings between the three men – Sutcliffe, Mr Williams, and Mr Charles.
Jurors heard how one text message sent from Mr Williams to James Sutcliffe, said to be linked to the debt, read: “We’re coming for you. Hide lad. F**king hide.”Mr Lumley said that on the afternoon of the alleged murder, Mr Williams and Mr Charles spent time with James Sutcliffe on the smallholding, before Mr Williams left the scene, later phoning Mr Charles just after 4.30pm. Mr Lumley said: “That phone call is the last meaningful contact anyone, apart from James Sutcliffe, had with Tyron.”
BLAST
Lumbley stated the prosecution case that James Sutcliffe blasted Mr Charles with a shotgun, leaving his “face and head full of gunshot”. Mr Lumley told the jury: “He must have slumped against the doors of the shipping container. He must have died very quickly.”
James Sutcliffe allegedly returned to the scene later that evening to remove Mr Charles’ body from the container and place it inside two building sacks to load into a Suzuki Vitara car. The jury heard that the car later triggered number plate recognition cameras on Hebden Bridge Road near Oxenhope shortly before James Sutcliffe returned home that night.
Mr Lumley said: “What James Sutcliffe did that night was to take Tyron’s body and select a place where he pulled up behind a wall. What he did was to tip the body over the wall in the bag.”
Mr Charles was reported missing on September 7, and police first spoke to James Sutcliffe on September 16, when he said he “didn’t have a clue” about his disappearance. He told officers that Mr Charles had assaulted him, but said he had left after he handed over some of the money he owed. When asked “might we find bits of Tyron Charles in the shipping container?”, James Sutcliffe was said to “laugh”, adding: “I think someone else has f**king got him or done something to him.”
The following day, forensic officers inspected the container and found a blood sample that matched the DNA profile of Mr Charles.Mr Lumley said: “It turned out he was not a missing person, but someone who had been killed in that shipping container, out of sight.” Detective cops used details given by James Sutcliffe during the conversation to trace the route he took to dispose of the body. The remains of Mr Charles were found in a boggy area of moorland off Nab Water Lane on October 11.
In one of the conversations with his parents, James Sutcliffe allegedly said: “I picked him up over my f**king head and chucked him f**king down. I jumped back over (the wall) and jumped on him, made sure he went f**king down.”
During another recorded conversation, the jury was told that James Sutcliffe said: “I blew his f**king head off. It was f**king ace.” Richard Wright QC, for James Sutcliffe, told the court: “James Sutcliffe did not kill Tyron Charles. He was killed by one of the prosecution’s own witnesses, Adrian Williams.
ENFORCE
Describing the incident in which Mr Charles was killed, he said: “Adrian Williams came with a weapon to enforce the debt. There was a struggle, it was discharged by Adrian Williams, and Tyron Charles was hit by accident.” He said that Mr Williams then “forced” James Sutcliffe to dump the body, with his client acting “through fear”.
Mr Lumley said that there “wasn’t a hint” of evidence that Mr Williams had killed Mr Charles. He told the court: “This is a very recent invention of James Sutcliffe. It is the only way he thinks he can get out of the deliberate killing of Tyron Charles. In anger, he shot Tyron Charles in that shipping container and left him there to die.”
On Kevin and Janet Sutcliffe, Mr Lumley said: “Together with James Sutcliffe, they set about trying to think of a way to cover up James’ tracks. They may well have succeeded, but for those secret recordings.”James Sutcliffe denies a charge of murder. All three defendants, of Hill Crest View, Denholme, deny a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.