Spalding man Warren Free had more than 50 external injuries, jurors in the trial of six youths accused of his murder were told today (Mon).
Pathologist Stuart Hamilton told the jury at Lincoln Crown Court that Mr Free suffered bleeding of the brain and died as a result of head injuries after he was allegedly attacked when he confronted the youths at 3.30 am.
Dr Hamilton, giving evidence on the sixth day of the trial, said “I have given the cause of death as a head injury.
“In my opinion the injuries to the head have produced subdural bleeding. That in my view is why Mr Free died.”
Dr Hamilton spent 40 minutes giving details of injuries he found during his post-mortem examination of Mr Free.
He said the 50 external injuries he discovered on Mr Free’s body included three broken ribs and a black eye as well as bruises and grazes.
Dr Hamilton said “In my view they are consistent with kicks, stamps and pretty much any form of blunt trauma. The patterns are suggestive of the sort of patterns you see with footwear.”
The pathologist agreed that some of the external injuries may have been caused during an incident three days previously when Mr Free was assaulted in the street by two Polish men and he said it was not possible to identify which of those injuries were due to the earlier incident and which were due to the incident involving the youths.
He said it was “simply implausible” that the brain injury was caused in the first incident and only manifested itself three days later. He continued “It is my view that the latter incident caused the fatal bleeding.”
A second pathologist Dr Safa Al Saraj told the jury that Mr Free had suffered a previous brain injury which left him epileptic and with a slightly smaller brain due to a condition known as brain atrophy.
But he said the condition would not have affected the level of force needed to cause bleeding in Mr Free’s brain.
Dr Al Saraj said “The atrophy of the brain is not a significant feature.”
The prosecution allege that Mr Free was kicked, punched and stamped on by the group of teenagers before a girl struck him over the head several times with a metal pole.
He went home to bed but friends were later unable to rouse him. An ambulance was called and he was airlifted to hospital but died within 24 hours from a head injury.
Six teenagers all deny Mr Free’s murder on August 29, 2014. Three of the defendants, including a girl, were 14 at the time while the others were a girl of 15 and a 16 year old together with Jake Edwards, now 18.
Two of the boys, who were 14 and 16 at the time, each deny a charge of perverting the course of justice relating to the disposal of the metal pole in a nearby waterway.
The trial continues.
