A DOCTOR described how “forceful pressure” to the neck led to the death of an 85-year-old retired teacher who is alleged to have been murdered at his North Yorkshire home.

George Francis Kidson was discovered unconscious and naked from the waist down at his large detached property in Sowerby, Thirsk.

The prosecution say drug addict Ryan Campbell, who Mr Kidson occasionally allowed to stay at his home after falling on “hard times”, strangled and then robbed the victim, ripping a ring off his finger.

He admits unlawful killing – claiming the fatal events were an accident – but denies murder and is on trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Dr Peter Cooper, a Home Office pathologist, who carried out a post mortem, described in detail both internal and external injuries he had suffered.

The court heard how the victim had fractures to two bones in his neck, along with a number of bruises, while a major artery to the brain had been damaged and blocked by a “catastrophic” blood clot.

Asked by prosecutor Paul Mitchell how the injuries occurred, Dr Cooper said trauma to the neck was the explanation.

He said: “The likely thing is some sort of firm pressure to the neck either with a hand or an arm.

“It must have been forceful pressure.”

He also logged numerous bruises on the victim’s body as well as injuries to his penis and scrotum.

Mr Campbell, 30, of Racecourse Mews, Thirsk, sat with his arms crossed in the dock and listened intently as the medical evidence was explained to the jury.

Earlier, in a statement, Simon Kavanagh, a paramedic with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, said he found the victim at the bottom of the stairs.

He described Mr Kidson as “unresponsive” and said his breathing was slow and noisy. He described how he tried to insert an airway into the pensioner’s mouth and also gave him oxygen.

This improved his breathing, but he remained unresponsive. The paramedic said he checked for obvious injuries and noted swelling and bruising to Mr Kidson’s head.

The jury were told that the pensioner was still alive when he arrived at Middlesbrough’s James Cook University Hospital on November 5 last year.

However CT scans subsequently revealed severe damage to the right side of his brain, caused by a stroke.

Doctors deemed this was not survivable and medical treatment was withdrawn with Mr Kidson being confirmed dead at 2.10pm on November 9.

The pensioner had suffered a previous stroke in 2014, although this played no part in his death.

The trial continues.