Bin man denies murdering Bognor mother

Wayne Morris is accused of battering Ruth Brown with a plastic tray in her kitchen in Collyer Avenue, Bognor Regis.

The 47-year-old has denied murder. His trial opened at Lewes Crown Court on Tuesday.

Ruth Brown, from Edinburgh, who was described as feisty, had been diagnosed with COPD – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease – and was classed as vulnerable during the pandemic.

She lived with her son Arran in Bognor Regis.

Long term partner Wayne Morris moved in when the first coronavirus national lockdown was announced in March last year.

Neighbours heard loud banging coming from the house on Wednesday, April 8, Lewes Crown Court in Brighton heard.

Mr Morris told police he found his partner lying face down on the kitchen floor the morning after a night of heavy drinking.

He told police the couple were bladdered and argued.

“She was giving me grief,” Mr Morris told police. “We had an argument. I don’t remember what it was about.

“Normally I would walk home but because of the lockdown I couldn’t go home, so I said ‘I’m sleeping in the spare room’. In the morning on Thursday I came down the stairs and I saw that Ruth was laying face-down on the floor in the kitchen.

“I went to check her pulse but as I lifted her arm I saw rigour mortis has already set in. There was a broken plastic tray on the floor next to her. There was blood on the floor and on the kitchen door.

“I panicked. I loved her, and I was responsible. I must have done it because nobody else could have done it.”

Mr Morris said he moved Ruth to her bed and cleaned up the kitchen before returning to his own house nearby.

“I left her there for a couple of hours then I picked her up and carried her upstairs to her bed, lay her in the bed and pulled the covers over her, leaving just a bit of her hair showing. I think I didn’t want to see her so then I didn’t have to think about what had happened.”

On Saturday, he took a hovercraft to the Isle of Wight where police arrested him the next day.

There is no dispute Mr Morris caused the injuries which killed his partner, Philip Bennetts QC told the jury.

The court heard that Mr Morris sent harrowing text messages days after the death.

In a message to his brother, he asked him to look after his daughter, and said: “she’ll need you more than you’ll ever know as I’ve killed Ruth.”

In a message to Ruth’s daughter Lauren, 22, the furloughed bin man said: “hi princess, you know I love you, not in a very good situation at The moment but I think you need to get the police around to your mums, because she is not in a very good way.

“I didn’t mean to do anything, I’m leaving Bognor, I’m turning my phone off.”

The court heard the couple had been together for five years and had a turbulent relationship.

In a statement read to the court, daughter Lauren said her mother was not very nice when she was drunk, adding: “Mainly mum would start arguments and he would walk away. ”

Wayne Morris denies murder. The trial continues.