A man accused of murdering a dog walker was previously jailed for battering a pensioner in a nearly identical attack, a court has heard.
Roy Barclay, 56, denies murdering mum-of-six Anita Rose, 57, who died in an ‘explosion of violence’ in Brantham, Suffolk, on July 24 last year.
She suffered injuries akin to those usually seen in high speed car crashes and was found with her dog’s lead wrapped tightly around her leg. Anita died four days later at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.
Jurors at Ipswich Crown Court were today told that Barclay previously pleaded guilty to GBH with intent after attacking pensioner Leslie Gunfield 10 years ago.
The court has heard Barclay was ‘irrational and dangerous’ and had been on the run from the police for two years while trying to avoid recall to prison.
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.
On February 22, 2015, Mr Gunfield, then 82, told Barclay, of no fixed address, that he would tell security about him going through rubbish bins at a Co-op supermarket in Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex.
Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said Mr Gunfield ‘ended up with fracture upon fracture to his face’ and required 10 titanium plates for fractures he suffered after being attacked by Barclay.
He was found with a dog lead wrapped around his foot, which the prosecution said was similar to the way Ms Rose’s body was found, with a dog lead ‘tightly’ wrapped around her leg.
Mr Paxton said Barclay was a ‘dog lover’ who had volunteered at a dog charity while on probation, adding that a dog lead wrapped around a body could ‘almost be described as a signature of Roy Barclay’.
He added: ‘This is no coincidence. The wrapping of the dog lead is a further striking similarity that builds with all the evidence to Roy Barclay being the one and only person who attacked Anita Rose.’
The prosecutor said: ‘Leslie Gunfield was taken to the ground and attacked on the ground by Roy Barclay, just as Anita Rose was. Leslie Gunfield was struck repeatedly to the head, just as Anita Rose was.
‘In his mid-40s, he (Barclay) fractured nearly all of the bones of an 82-year-old’s face, having taken him to the ground in 2015.
‘Anybody that attacks an 82-year-old man in that way displays a ruthlessness and callousness that defies logic.’
Giving his closing speech, the prosecutor said: ‘Two very different worlds collided: Anita, partner to Richard, a mother and grandmother, out with the family dog Bruce, before she went off to work.
‘Her world collided with Roy Barclay’s world, a desperate man on the run from police for two years, having been in prison for beating Leslie Gunfield’s face to a pulp.
‘Roy Barclay took Anita Rose’s life in an explosion of violence. Blow after blow, stamp after stamp and kick after kick.
‘Roy Barclay’s determination to keep his liberty and save his skin is revealed in the brutality of the injuries he inflicted on Anita Rose.
‘Slight and slim Roy Barclay might seem, but his force, his brutality, is revealed in what he did to Leslie Gunfield and Anita Rose.’
Jurors heard evidence that injuries to Anita’s brain were similar to those inflicted by ‘high speed car crashes’.
Barclay opted to give no evidence in his defence on Wednesday.
Mr Paxton said Barclay had maintained a ‘wall of silence’ throughout his trial.
The prosecutor added: ‘It is his right of course, but it is a choice Roy Barclay has made.
‘He made a choice not to say one single word to the jury in his defence from the witness box.’
The trial continues.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
