Murder suspect claimed he was watching Family Guy and Red Dwarf when victim was killed (From The Northern Echo)
For details on how to contact our editorial and commercial departments, click here
Murder suspect claimed he was watching Family Guy and Red Dwarf when victim was killed
12:53pm Friday 8th March 2013 in News
By Neil Hunter
FOUND DEAD: John Coates
A MURDER suspect said he played computer games and watched comedy shows on television over the weekend a shop worker is said to have been bludgeoned to death.
Details of Robert Baker's interviews with police following the killing of 61-year-old John Coates at his home in Middlesbrough were revealed in court today (Friday, March 8).
When he was quizzed, the 24-year-old - who lived in the same tower block as the victim - said he rarely left his flat throughout September 9 and 10 last year.
He told murder squad detectives that he played alone on his X-box games console for most of the Sunday before watching trailers for the sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf.
After popping out for 20 minutes to buy some marijuana from a dealer nearby, Mr Baker said he returned to his sixth-floor flat to watch US animated series Family Guy.
The suspect said he would usually have a lie-in on a Monday, but got up early to go to the JobCentre and later played more video games and watched the telly.
A jury at Teesside Crown Court heard that the one of the last sightings of Mr Coates alive was on closed circuit television cameras from the lift in the flats.
Pictures showed the victim - whose body was found days later in his water-filled bath - and Mr Baker together in the lift in Fleet House, Cargo Fleet Lane.
Mr Baker accepts having a games console and tablet computer taken from Mr Coates's flat, but denies his murder, and his trial will resume on Monday.
