Lewes mother-of-two murdered in ‘frenzied’ hammer attack, court hears

Nicola Stevenson was found dead in a bin in undergrowth on the edge of the recreation ground off Landport Road, Lewes, on November 13, last year.

The mother-of-two had been missing from her home in Stansfield Road, Lewes, for five weeks.

Richard Canlin, 41, unemployed and of no fixed address, is standing trial at Hove Crown Court accused of her murder.

The court heard today (Thursday, October 1), that Nicola’s body was discovered in a green wheelie bin by a dog walker after midday on November 13, last year.

Opening the case for prosecution, Caroline Carberry QC told the court that Nicola had been killed in a brutal attack which left her with numerous skull and face fractures and a fracture to her neck.

“Her body was in a state of decomposition,” she told the court.

Nicola was a vulnerable person and suffered with congenital deformities of the spine and a form of dwarfism, Ms Carberry said.

She was 4ft 9in tall and walked with a stick and used a mobility scooter to get around.

She was last seen at her GP surgery on October 9, the court heard.

Her phone had not been used and she failed to respond to messages from concerned friends.

She also did not turn up for a hospital appointment on October 18.

Ms Carberry told the court: “She was murdered in her own home by the defendant, Richard Canlin, in a frenzied attack with a hammer on October 10, last year, about five weeks before her body was discovered in the wheelie bin.

“He had been lodging in Nicola’s one-bed flat in Stansfield Road for about a month to six weeks before she went missing.

“After she went missing, Canlin told neighbours she went to Scotland.

“He did not report her missing and did not attempt to contact her.”

Ms Carberry told the court that Canlin made an application on the tenancy of Nicola’s flat to be put into his name.

He had also changed her electricity in his name, used her bank card to buy items, including a snooker table and xbox, and continued to collect her prescription pain relief medicine from the pharmacy.

During the afternoon of October 10, which prosecution say was the day Nicola was murdered, Nicola contacted a friend to say Canlin was ‘kicking off again’ because she had caught him out again stealing her prescription medicine and was refusing to leave her home, the court heard.

Nicola sent a message to her friend saying: “Hey, can you send police to mine please, he’s kicking off because I’ve caught him out stealing my meds again.”

She sent another message just a minute late that read: “Please.”

Nicola tried calling the police on 101, but there was no answer, the court heard.

She then sent two emails to a police officer, telling her Canlin was getting abusive because she ‘wanted him out’.

Nicola’s friend then told her to contact 999 and that was the last he heard from her, the court heard.

Police attended Nicola’s home on November 15, two days after her body was discovered and Canlin had ‘made himself very much at home’, the court heard.

The court was told that in Nicola’s bedroom there was blood splattered on the ceiling, walls and radiator.

There was also blood soaked rolled up carpet on the bedroom floor and blood on a sheet that was in a washing machine and a foam mattress and mattress protector inside a suitcase.

The court heard that police recovered the murder weapon in a wheelie bin outside Nicola’s flat. A claw hammer with Nicola’s blood was on it and Mr Canlin’s dna was on the handle consistent with the hammer being held by him.

Ms Carberry, prosecuting, told the court: “The day after Nicola’s body was discovered, Mr Canlin demonstrated the ability to lie. He denied he was even in Lewes at all during the time Nicola went missing.

“He made up an elaborate story of his whereabouts and he went on to blame another man, known to both himself and Nicola.

“That other man was also arrested and fully investigated. There was no evidence connecting him with murder of Nicola.”

Canlin denies murder.

The trial continues.