Jury hears alleged Corby alleyway attacker Lee Morrisey has murder conviction

The jury in a Corby alleyway assault trial has heard how defendant Lee Morrisey has a previous conviction for murder.

On the second day of a GBH trial, Northampton Crown Court heard that Morrisey had previously been involved in the murder of Scott Munro in Corby.

They were given no details of the offence, only that it had taken place 'a long time ago’.

His Honour Judge David Herbert QC ruled that the jury could hear about the conviction because it is relevant to Morrisey’s defence. The 47-year-old believes that the victim attacked him first as revenge because she was a former girlfriend of murder co-defendant, Andrew Mullen.

The court also heard that Morrisey had told police officers that they had only arrested him because he was a ‘big bad murderer' and it was a ‘stitch up’.

Morrisey, of no fixed abode, is alleged to have attacked his victim in an alleyway on May 9 this year.

Yesterday (Thursday, November 3) the court heard evidence from people who were in properties near the alleyway between Rowlett Road and Brookes Grove.

The victim’s stepfather said he'd been at the hospital that night with the victim’s grandfather when he had arrived home to find the his wife, his mother-in-law and his step-daughter there. He said that his step-daughter had left to meet some friends in town.

He said that although she had had a drink, he didn't believe her to be drunk and said she had no visible injuries.

One witness, who said she lived within a few seconds of walking distance from the alleyway's exit in Rowlett Road, described how she was in her bedroom when heard a lengthy argument and a woman shouting 'get off me you f***ing a*****le.’

A 12-minute 999 call made to the force control room by a woman who lived nearby was also played to the jury. She could hear what was going on from an open window although she couldn't see the scene.

The caller relayed the ongoing argument to the call handler and some of the sounds could be heard on the call played to the jury.

She told the call-handler the woman sounded 'really, really scared' and said a man was 'beating her up.’

She said: “She needs help desperately by the sound of it.

"She’s saying ‘do you like me like this?' She's crying.

"The man is saying ‘if you hit me with your hand I'll hit you with mine.’”

Just seconds before officers arrived on the scene, the witness told the call handler she heard Morrisey say ‘I'm going to rape you now’.

Bodyworn camera footage was shown to the jury which showed Morrisey being arrested after police found him on top of the victim in the alleyway.

The footage, captured by PC Sarah Townson as she arrived on the scene at around 11.45pm showed Morrissey and the woman on the floor. He was seen on the camera as police arrived and the crying victim, with blood coating her top, was heard saying: “I hate you.

"You’re going down.”

Morrisey then replied: “Did I do anything hurtful towards you?”

To which the victim replied: “Why’s my head smashed and bleeding then?"

Morrisey was then seen on camera refusing to stand up and resisting arrest while the police officers shouted at him to put his hands behind his back. One of the officers had to spray PAVA at him in order to get him to comply.

He then shouted across at the victim: “I bet you love it don't you, because I killed your f***ing mate and if I was in front of him again I'd f***ing kill him again.

"Twisted little b**ch to try to land this on me.”

The victim could be heard saying on camera: “He's bad, he's a really bad man.”

The police officer then asked her if she knew him and she said: “I don't even know who he is. I don't know his name at all.”

In her police interview, the victim said she didn't know who Morrisey was on the night of the attack and couldn't remember meeting him.

Another officer on the scene, PC Rachel Cantwell, told the court that the victim had told her that she remembered the defendant talking to her about men named Andrew Mullen and Scott Munro, and said that Mr Mullen had been her ex-partner but that she had never met Morrisey before.

PC Cantwell told the court that both the victim and defendant were intoxicated.

Another police officer, PC Lewis Deacon, who had taken Morrisey to a holding bay at Weekley Woods Justice Centre, said the defendant made multiple comments saying that the victim had attacked him and tried to ‘scratch his eyes out’.

PC Deacon added: “But in the next breath he said the only reason he'd been arrested was because he was a big, bad murderer and we were only going to believe the innocent woman.”

CCTV images shown to the jury showed Morrisey behind Welland Vale shops where he’d chatted to a friend before leaving for his mum’s house in Sarrington Road.

Images showed him about three-and-a-half minutes ahead of the victim but they reached the alleyway from the same direction at about the same time.

Two silhouettes could be seen on the CCTV pausing at the entrance to the alley.

But in police interview, Morrisey told officers he’d met the woman walking towards him in the opposite direction in the alley where she shouted ‘I know you, I know you.’ The CCTV stills show them entering the alley at 11.31pm together.

In his interview, Morrisey described how he'd recently been offered a full-time job at Bakeaway and was doing well with his probation. He said he had never met the woman before and didn't know who she was.

DC Lee Norton, who conducted the interview, asked Morrisey if he'd had done anything differently.

He answered: “I’d have walked the other way home."

He asked if it were true that Morrisey had said the words a neighbour had heard over the hedge. He said: “I might have said ‘I'm f***ing Lee Morrisey for the fear factor because I'm well-known in this town. I’m not into hitting women though.”

The jury was shown a body map of Morrisey's injuries which showed some scratches to his chest and bruising to the sides of his face.

The trial continues.