Oxford Wood Farm 'murder' victim's shouts recorded on CCTV

Jurors in the trial of Liam Jones, a convicted killer who is accused of murdering 59-year-old Phillip Breach in Wood Farm last November, were played the four-minute long audio track by prosecutor Sarah Gaunt on Wednesday.

On the screen, all that could be seen was the bonnet of a 4x4 parked outside a property near Foresters Tower. Amplified over the speakers were a man’s anguished shouts.

A number of eyewitnesses, including students in a shared house overlooking the park where the attack took place, were said to have described seeing a man sitting astride the alleged victim and striking ‘one punch a second’.

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Others told police they heard a man shouting ‘help me’, while another thought he heard a man’s voice say ‘that’s what you get for f***ing my missus’, jurors were told.

One man likened the figure of the alleged attacker to ‘Grumio’, the bowl haircut-sporting slave in Ancient Rome-set lads comedy TV series Plebs. Others variously described him as wearing a dark, black or grey coat.

Mr Breach's body was found on this path at around 6.15am on November 30 Picture: Oxford Mail (Image: Oxford Mail)

Concluding her opening of the case against Jones, 44, on Wednesday afternoon (June 21), Ms Gaunt claimed that a number of pieces of forensic evidence would point towards the defendant’s guilt.

Mr Breach’s blood was found smeared on the keypad at the entrance to the block of flats where Jones lived, she said.

It was also on a torch and jacket found in the defendant’s home, as well as on a key seized from him when he was booked in at Maidenhead police station, the jury was told.

The bin stores outside the block of flats in Bonar Road where Mr Breach and Jones lived in Wood Farm Picture: Oxford Mail (Image: Oxford Mail)

Found in a bin shed belonging to his flat – 13 Bonar Road – was a red bar stool.

The chair had been picked up on Nuffield Road around 30 minutes before the attack by a scarf-ensconced figure who Jones claimed was not him.

It was allegedly the same figure who was caught on CCTV tailing Mr Breach as he walked to the shops in Atkyns Road at around 5.45am.

Ms Gaunt told the court that the defendant’s DNA was on a Berghaus beanie hat found alongside Mr Breach’s body.

She suggested that it ‘support[ed] the view that Liam Jones was the regular wearer of the hat rather than Phillip Breach’.

The prosecutor added: “There was no other beanie found at the scene and there is a possibility, it will be a matter for you, that perhaps the assailant picked up the wrong beanie when he left in the dark.”

READ MORE: Prosecution begins opening of case against murder accused

Found at the home of Jones’ on-off girlfriend in Wheatley was a note marked with the words ‘what to do, how to do it, what is needed, how to get it, where plus when’ and ‘route, area, cam location’. In the opinion of an expert, the handwriting was the defendant’s, the jury was told.

Jones was arrested on December 1, having in fact spoken to police officers guarding the cordon just hours after Mr Breach’s body was found at 6.15am on November 30.

Taken to the police station after receiving treatment at John Radcliffe Hospital, emotional Jones told officers: “I did have an argument with him the day before.”

In interview, he admitted to detectives that he did not have a good memory. “I know this fella wasn’t a great fan. I want things. I don’t want anyone killed,” he was said to have told the police officers.

Ms Gaunt told the jury: “In summary, the issue in this case is did this defendant do it?

“Several aspects, the prosecution say, indicate from circumstantial evidence that you will hear, that he did.

“The forensic evidence: the deceased’s blood being on the keypad, the torch, the jacket at the defendant’s home address; the defendant’s DNA being on that Berghaus hat that was left with the dying body of Phillip Breach to name but a few factors.

“As well, of course, the CCTV footage; the red barstool taken from the street that was found in the shed at number 13 [Jones’ flat].

“The defence say ‘no, it was not me, I did not do it, I’m not responsible, don’t know who did but it certainly wasn’t me’.

“Where the truth lies, ultimately, will be a matter for you to consider when you deliberate in due course.”

Jones, formerly of Abingdon Road, Oxford, denies murder.

The trial continues.

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