Day One: John Coates Murder Trial (From The Northern Echo)
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Day One: John Coates Murder Trial
Updated 11:23am Friday 1st March 2013 in News
By Graeme Hetherington
This live event has finished
4:41pm
Trial proceedings have ended for today. Check back tomorrow for more updates.
3:42pm
She describes seeing Mr Coates' dead body in the bathtub but the jurors were spared the most graphic details.
3:42pm
PC Catherine Wright tells the court she reconised the smell when she entered the flat for the first time as that of decomposition.
3:41pm
The family started clearing Mr Coates' flat in the days before a pathologist said the death was suspicious, the court hears.
3:41pm
Mr Coates was saved from giving graphic details of what he saw when he discovered his brother. Mr Lumley says some other witness can do that.
3:41pm
As he cleared his brother's flat, he realised the X-Box, Kinect sensor and 10 computer games one wih an armband sensor included were missing.
3:10pm
Mr Coates later realised that his brother's laptop, two jars of coins, keys and white tracksuit top was missing and alerted the police.
3:09pm
Mr Coates tells he found his brother in a 3/4 full bath with his head at the tap end. A bottle of bleach was leaking into the water.
3:09pm
When he opened the door the smell was much stronger inside, Raymond Coates tells the jury.
3:09pm
After hearing John hadn't been at work,Raymond called at the flat where he could smell a fetid and sewer like smell from outside the flat.
3:09pm
His brother last saw him alive on Sunday September 9 when John Coates visited him and his wife.
3:09pm
He said his brother never missed taking his medication as he was terrified the cancer would return.
3:09pm
A clearly emotional Raymond Coates describes his brother as a quiet man who had overcome alcoholism and prostate cancer
2:34pm
The victim's brother Raymond Coates is about to enter the witness box. He discovered John's decompossing body in the bath of the flat.
2:33pm
Neighbours described Mr Coates as a private man who never had visitors to his flat.
2:33pm
The same images were also on Mr Coates' tablet computer which was stolen after his murder.
2:33pm
Jurors being shown copies of photographs taken of Mr Coates while on Roseberry Topping with a diabetes exercise group.
2:33pm
Witness statements from friends are being read out in court as Mr Lumley tells the jury Mr Coates had no kmown enemies.
12:51pm
Mr Lumley tells the jury that a piece of plastic from a budgie's toy found inside the flat had Baker's fingerprint in Mr Coates' blood.
12:38pm
Traces of Mr Coates' blood was discovered throughout the flat with blood splatters showing where the assault took place.
12:38pm
The court hears Baker told another resident he might have been the last person to see Mr Coates alive.
12:37pm
A pathologist examining Mr Coates discovered the injuries and it was clear it was no accident. The flat then became a crime scene.
12:37pm
His brother, police and medics thought it was a tragic accident at first.
12:37pm
The first thing he noticed was the stench and his brother's body had started to decompose. Initially the death was not treated as suspicious.
12:37pm
The court hears that Mr Coates' brother Raymond found him dead in the bath after learning he hadn't been to work for days.
12:37pm
He added on the day of Baker's arrest he was laid on his bed playing on a X-Box which belonged to Mr Coates. The serial number was identical.
12:37pm
The prosecuter says he will explain the significance during the trial.
12:37pm
Mr Lumley says the bleach and a toothbrush was used to clean an x-box and controls in a friend's flat.
12:37pm
On 11/09 Baker buys two bottles of bleach, a 4 pack of toothbrushes, a disposable BBQ and fire lghters before returning to the flats.
12:37pm
The prosecution say they could have been full if Baker's clothing and, or, stolen property for Mr Coates' flat.
12:36pm
He told police they were full of rubbish he was putting in the communal bins but footage showed him walking away from the flats with them.
12:36pm
Baker is shown leaving flats with 3 full carrier bags to return 30 mins later with them empty. Ten minutes later he leaves with 2 full bags.
12:36pm
CCTV footage show Baker in the lift of the flats in a white T-shirt and jeans and 30 minutes later he is captured again on CCTV. This time he wasn't wearing the white top but had a jacket on and is not wearing any shoes. He claimed to police he was going to the laundry.
12:36pm
Mr Coates was beaten to head and the attack was continued as he was slumped on the floor, the court hears.
12:36pm
CCTV footage showed Mr Coates going to Baker's flat to try and retrieve to key following the theft but was he unsuccessful.
12:36pm
The prosecution says Baker used Mr Coates key to get access to the room and Mr Coates spoke to other residents about his concern.
12:36pm
The jury hears that Robert Baker stole a tv out of the communal room at the flats in July and sold it at Cash Generators in town.
12:35pm
Whovever killed Mr Coates stole an X-box, X-box games and a tablet computer before leaving and locking the door behind him, said Mr Lumley.
12:35pm
He tells the jurors that the man who killed Mr Coates, and it was a man, took away his clothes and tried to clean up the flat.
12:35pm
The jury hears that Mr Coates' key fob to get into the block of flats had not been used since September 9 and has never been recovered.
12:35pm
He said after his death, Mr Coates was stripped naked and dumped in the bath of his flat where he was found days later by relative
12:35pm
Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley tells the jury Mr Coates was savegely beaten with a hammer or some other type weapon.
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