Bradley Wall murder trial: Leeds man had more than 100 injuries and fell from window, jury told

Bradley Wall was found dead in Fairford Avenue, Beeston, on June 23 this year. Two men, Patrick Mason, 31, and Aiden Ramsdale, 25, are accused of his murder.

A takeaway owner told of his panic after finding Mr Wall’s body slumped at the bottom of a basement staircase at 2.25pm. Paramedics described how his body was doubled over, with large paving slabs covering his back and head.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Mr Wall fell from a second floor window of 2 Fairford Avenue in the early hours of that morning. In CCTV footage played to the jury, Mason and Ramsdale are seen leaving the property at around 4am and smoke can be seen coming from the basement.

During the prosecution case, the jury heard from pathologist Dr Christopher Johnson who examined Mr Wall’s body and found 110 injuries across his head, face and body. Dr Johnson said Mr Wall had a serious head injury, there was evidence of pressure applied to his neck and traumatic oxygen loss likely caused by the slabs put on his back - all of which could have been fatal on their own.

The post-mortem examination found multiple external injuries and Mr Wall had an “extensive fracture of the skull”, Dr Johnson said, as well as severe brain swelling. He added that a fall head-first from the second floor window “could readily” have caused the skull fracture, but said Mr Wall survived for at least 30 minutes after sustaining the head injury.

Mr Wall had singed hair and burnt skin on his head, but Dr Johnson concluded that due to low levels of carbon monoxide in his system, fire was not the cause of his death. A toxicology report found drugs including cocaine, amphetamine, morphine and alprazolam - known as Xanax - in his system, but the substances were said to play “no direct role in his death”.

“Mr Wall had clearly been subject to a serious physical assault,” Dr Johnson said.

In a defence statement, Mason said Mr Wall had taken drugs and became “paranoid” and started to attack both defendants, before threatening to jump out of the window. He said Ramsdale tried to seize him but he fell out of sight. Mason added that the pair became aware that Bradley was in the basement after hearing him making sounds.

Mason claims that Ramsdale picked up a brick and started hitting Bradley with force.

In his statement, Ramsdale also said that Mr Wall became violent and “went into a frenzy”, striking the defendants with force. He says he punched Mr Wall a number of times as he was trying to stop the fight.

He claims that after Mr Wall had fallen from the window, Mason took a jumper and wrapped it around his neck.

Dr Johnson concluded that a brick placed on Mr Wall’s neck and stamped on, or the sleeve of a jumper fixed around his neck as a ligature, were both possible scenarios in causing the pressure to Bradley’s neck and could have been fatal.

Both Mason, of Whingate, Armley, and Ramsdale, of Fairford Avenue, both deny Mr Wall’s murder. The trial continues.