MIRROR
A homeowner is claimed to have found a drunk, semi-naked woman on the side of his bed and dragged her down the stairs, causing her fatal injuries.
David Redfern, 46, is on trial for murdering Margaret Barnes, 71 after he allegedly mistook her for a thief in his home in Barmouth, Gwynedd.
The elderly holidaymaker is said to have mistook his house for a seaside hotel and she undressed, unpacked and climbed into bed at his house.
But when Redfern spotted her, the court heard that he flew into a rage and called her a “thieving c***” before he grabbed her by her feet and dragged her out of his house, tossing her suitcase out too.
He was said to have found the “frail” pensioner half naked, with her possessions strewn across the room, and her false teeth on the bedside table before the prosecution said he stamped on her and kicked her as he threw her out onto the street.
The court heard that she had just “simply mistook” his large five-storey seaside home for her hotel after travelling over 100 miles from Birmingham for a holiday on the coast in Wales and having had a drink.
The prosecution said she suffered injuries comparable to a high-speed crash and collapsed and died outside the house, despite the best efforts of neighbours to save her.
The retired factory worker had booked into the Wavecrest BnB, several doors down from Redfern’s Belmont House in Barmouth.
The large house had formerly been a hotel before Redfern and his partner renovated it.
The court was told Mrs Barnes was staying in Barmouth to visit friends and had been seen drinking at bars in the hours before she died.
Prosecutor Jones said: “Mrs Barnes had been drinking and, whether she thought this was the Wavecrest, she went in and went to bed. She mistook the defendant’s address for the B&B but it was a mistake which ultimately cost her her life.”
