Tue, 20 Nov 2018
No5 Barristers’ Chambers’ David Mason QC and Samantha Crabb are prosecuting a murder trial in which it is alleged a wealthy businessman ‘totally lost it’ during a drink and drug-fuelled ‘rough sex’ session with his young lover, leaving her to die at the bottom of the stairs.
John Broadhurst, 40, is alleged to have murdered Natalie Connolly, 26, at their home in Kenrose Mill, Kinver, Stourbridge last December. Ms Connolly was found naked but for her skirt, which was rolled up to her waist, in a pool of blood at the foot of the stairs and had more than 40 injuries to her body.
A post-mortem examination also found she had died from acute alcohol intoxication and blunt force injuries.
David Mason QC, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court, said: "She died on her own after she had been left there by the man who said, and still says, that he loved her. He left her at the bottom of the stairs in a dreadful physical state, heavily intoxicated and very badly injured."
He added: “There may have been some sort of consensual behaviour at the start of this night's activity, but we say that you can be sure that, whatever may have started willingly, there is no way that Natalie either consented to or was able to consent to what John Broadhurst did to her after that, leading to her untimely, unseemly and tragic death."
Mr Broadhurst, of Blakeshall, at Wolverley, near Kidderminster, Worcestershire, denies murder and an alternative charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
The case continues.
David Mason QC is Head of Crime at No5 Barristers’ Chambers. To view his profile visit: www.no5.com/barristers/barrister-details/135-david-mason-qc/
