GUILTY UK - Alex Rodda, 15, murdered, Cheshire village, Ashley,13 Dec 2019 *Arrest*

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12:42AMY WALKER
The trial is resuming and Matthew Mason is to begin his evidence
Jurors have been brought back into court for the afternoon.

Matthew Mason, the accused, is to give evidence from the witness box.

12:56AMY WALKER
The defendant accepts he used spanner in attack as he begins his evidence
Mr Mason has confirmed his full name, his age and his address. The jury is hearing evidence about his background and education/work in farming.

He confirmed he gained nine GCSEs from Holmes Chapel School and went on to do an extended diploma at Reaseheath College.

When asked by his barrister Gordon Cole QC what his plan for the future was, he said:

The plan was to carry on working at the family farm.

I did work on the farm occasionally and I wanted to start my own business eventually working on farm machinery.

I enjoyed college and the practical sides of things, I’m a hands on person. I also worked part time at JK Ashbrooks. I learnt how to maintain machinery. You were expected to have your own tools.

When asked if he accepted he used the spanner in the attack, he said yes.

He went on to tell the jury he passed his tractor driving test at 16, and once he had passed his car driving test he was put on the company insurance to drive tractors, deliver machinery and help customers. He planned to stay there until he finished his course.

13:08KEY EVENT
Defendant breaks down in tears in the dock and accepts 'my actions caused the death of Alex Rodda'
When asked about his sexuality, Mr Mason told the jury:

I’ve never had any trouble with my sexuality before.

I’ve always been straight and been in relationships with girls, but after a couple of weeks of receiving messages from Alex Rodda, I started questioning this and thought I was bisexual. Even after me and Caitlyn separated after Alex Rodda messaged her, I still carried on seeing her, we met up a few times and I stayed around her house.


When asked how the situation made him feel, he said:

After the relationship with Caitlyn broke down, I felt depressed. When the relationship fell apart, we’d been together nearly two years, we had some happy memories together. It still upsets me now. In the coming weeks up until the events of December 12, I started struggling sleeping.

Mr Mason then broke down in tears.

“How did you feel about your life?” Mr Cole QC asked him.

He replied: “I did start to feel suicidal.”

Mr Mason went on to confirm he had been in a relationship with Caitlyn Lancashire for two years.

When asked if he admitted responsibility to her for killing Alex Rodda, he said yes, and when asked if he accepts this now, he told the jury:

I still accept my actions caused the death of Alex Rodda.

When asked how he felt about that, he said: “Ashamed.”

13:15AMY WALKER
Defendant and victim knew each other from school
Mr Mason confirmed he knew Alex Rodda from school and said he may have said a “passing hello” but he never had contact with him socially before.

He also said they were friends on Facebook but didn’t speak on social media.

The court has now broken for lunch and the trial will resume in around an hour.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
14:16AMY WALKER
The trial has resumed
We are now reconvening and Mr Mason is continuing with his evidence.

He earlier told the jury that he had ‘quite a few visits’ from Caitlyn whilst he was in custody, and said he ‘encouraged her to go to the police’, when he confessed to killing Alex Rodda.

He said: “I didn’t want her to get into trouble for withholding valuable information.”

14:43AMY WALKER
Alex messaged the accused on Facebook and they added each other on Snapchat
Speaking of his first contact with Alex, Mr Mason said: “He messaged me on Facebook to ask me to add him back on Snapchat.”

Once adding him back on Snapchat, he said: “I started to get a few messages off him saying ‘Hi’ and ‘How are you doing?’. I ignored him to begin with.”

Mr Mason said he gradually began to respond, saying “hi” back, and it progressed to them asking how each other were.

“I wouldn’t start the messages, it would always be him,” he said.

Mr Mason said the messages began to change in nature after about a week.

He told the jury: “It started getting into more personal things.”

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
14:46AMY WALKER
Conversation turned sexual and defendant sent explicit pictures and videos to the victim
Describing the increasingly intimate nature of their conversations, Mr Mason said he “started getting messages late at night and I was in bed and he asked if I had any clothes on. I did respond, thought nothing of it”.

When asked by Mr Cole QC if he asked Alex a similar question, he said: “No, I wasn’t really interested.”

He continued: “He started saying ‘you’re fit’ and something like that. I felt like it was a compliment and said ‘thank you’. Eventually on one occasion we sent pictures, that was a couple of days before Alex had contact with Caitlyn.”

When asked more about this, he said: “

Alex started getting into more sexual conversation towards me and we would sort of laugh it off, but then things started coming into play about whether I was interested.

I sent him a picture of my penis, he sort of asked me for one. This was the Thursday before he was in contact with Caitlyn.

On that day I was in the pub that night with the Young Farmers, I was drunk and I didn’t drive. I think I got a lift home. I did send a video afterwards - of me masturbating.

Mr Mason said they had earlier exchanged pictures of different things and he said Alex had sent him pictures of his face on Snapchat also.

He said Alex had begun sending him messages about sexual activity between them, and said he ‘ignored him and started to laugh it off’.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
15:02AMY WALKER
Mr Mason tells court Alex demanded £50 or he would post explicit picture of him on social media
Mr Cole QC told the jury that on November 3, 2019, Mr Mason added Alex as a payee to his bank account.

When asked why he did this, Mr Mason said: “Because he told me that, to start off with, he had a screenshot of the picture I sent him. He said he would put it on social media if I didn’t pay £50.”

After learning that Alex had messaged Caitlyn about their relationship, Mr Mason said: “Alex told me to start off with about the messages to Caitlyn, then after I received a phone call from Caitlyn.”

“Did your relationship last long after this?” Mr Cole QC asked him.

“Five minutes after the phone call” Mr Mason said.

He confirmed Caitlyn ‘dumped him’.

“Why did you pay him?” Mr Cole Qc asked.

Mr Mason replied: “Because as far as I was aware he did have the picture and I thought he was the kind of person that would put the picture on social media, so I thought it was the best thing to do at the time.”

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
15:07AMY WALKER
Mr Mason claims Alex asked for a further £120
Mr Mason was then asked about an occasion on November 5, 2019, when he attended at Alex Rodda’s home address on Holly Grove.

He told the jury Alex had sent him a message saying: “Your girlfriend has been asking what’s going on between me and you, I want £120.”

He confirmed he went to Alex’s house, saying: “I wanted to discuss the money situation because he was asking me for £120.

“When I first got there, Alex tried to kiss me and I said: ‘Don’t kiss me.’ He started trying to undo my trousers. I stood up the whole time.

“He started giving me a [sex act] and I said I didn’t want to do this. He stopped.”

Mr Mason continued: “I went to leave the house and he got quite upset. He was practically begging me to stay. I got very uncomfortable and wanted to go home. I paid him £120.”

When asked why, he said: “Because he asked me to, that’s all I can say about it.”

15:12AMY WALKER
Mr Mason claims Alex threatened "I can either ruin your life financially or ruin it socially"
When asked how many times he went to Alex Rodda’s house, he told the jury it was twice.

On November 12, Mr Mason said Alex had messaged him asking for £250.

When asked if he knew what Alex was wanting the money for, he said: “He wanted the money because he said if I didn’t get the money he would tell people what was going on between me and him. He didn’t say what he wanted the money for. I paid him the £250.”

On November 12, it was said Alex asked for £400 and, after agreeing to pay the money, Mr Mason transferred the money from his Barclays ISA account to his Nationwide current account.

Mr Mason told the court: “I was just panicked. I didn’t want people to find out what did go on on November 5 and beforehand - I was embarrassed. I didn’t know how people would react to the situation.”

When asked who ‘people’ were, he said: “Friends and family - mum, dad, everyone really.”

On November 18, Mr Cole QC told the jury of payments to Alex Rodda from Mr Mason’s account of £50 and £100.

When asked why he paid him this time, Mr Mason said: “He just asked for it. He was saying if I didn’t pay it, he would tell everyone what happened. He did say to me on one occasion ‘I can either ruin your life financially or ruin it socially’.

15:45AMY WALKER
Mr Mason tells the court he and Alex started to have sex but he 'decided I didn’t like it, it wasn’t for me'
After Alex allegedly asked him for £500, Mr Mason told the jury: “I said it was getting too much and I couldn’t afford it. He said same as before, that he would put it on social media.”

He went on to say he didn’t know that Alex had gone to Amsterdam with his mum Lisa Rodda, in early December, and said he hadn’t heard from Alex in a couple of days.

On December 7, he confirmed he had been disturbed by Alex’s mum.

Alex had been asking me a couple of days prior to go around to his, I kept making excuses saying I was busy and had other commitments. I was in Alex’s bedroom as his mum came in and I moved onto the landing. He started out asking how I was. Then he started to undo my trousers. He did give me a [sex act].

He heard his mum come in and started panicking. We moved from the bedroom to the landing as she was just coming up the stairs.

He introduced me as Matt and said I had been selling him cannabis. She just said hello or something and I left after that.

Did she tell you to leave?” Mr Cole QC asked him.

“No, I was leaving anyway,” Mr Mason replied.

He continues:

I left and went to the Golden Pheasant in Plumley. When I was at the pub, I started receiving phone calls and Snapchat messages from Alex.

He said he actually needed money for cannabis as he told his mum he had got some and he asked me to go and pick him up and take him to get this cannabis.

I said I can’t take you to pick it up, and he said ‘if you can’t take me to pick it up then I’ll need a bit more money for whoever I’m getting the cannabis from to drop it off at my house.’

Mr Mason confirmed he transferred Alex the money. He then told the jury that Alex asked him to take him to the petrol station to withdraw the cash.

He said he went back to Alex’s house after this and took his own trousers down before Alex performed oral sex on him.

He tells the court:

Then he asked me if I would have sex with him. I started to, then decided I didn’t like it, it wasn’t for me and I said that to Alex. It didn’t feel right.

Alex was very understanding and we stopped. I asked if he wanted taking to the petrol station to get the cash out and we went.

15:47AMY WALKER
Mr Mason says he was getting into debt and trying to borrow through bank loans
On December 9, Mr Mason was said to have made a number of payments to Alex.

He said: “Alex Rodda messaged me that day saying he needed a bit of money, I asked how much, he said £30 and he said he would actually pay me back, I quite happily gave him the £30 on that occasion.”

When asked about the state of his finances at this time, he said: “My ISA account was practically empty. I owed my grandparents £700. I tried to borrow money off a lot of people, even up to bank loans as well. I didn’t go to my mum and dad directly. I went to my grandma, she was a very understanding person. She borrowed me money.”

The court is now taking a short break.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
15:55AMY WALKER
The trial resumes
We have resumed and the evidence is now looking at events on December 12, the night of Alex’s death.

16:24AMY WALKER
Mr Mason says he agreed to give Alex a lift to meet friends and on the way they stopped at the woods to do 'something sexual'
When asked by his lawyer how arrangements were made, he said:

Alex sent me a message earlier on in the week saying he needed a lift to Holmes Chapel as he was going shopping with his friends. He said he wanted £250. I said I’m really struggling, I will see what I can do.

I was trying to sort something for Thursday. I then drove to his house, he got in the car and put his jacket on the back seat.

Mr Mason said they had a short conversation, but the majority of the journey Alex was ‘on his phone’.

He continued:

Alex asked me if I wanted to do anything before I dropped him off in Holmes Chapel. He asked me if I knew of anywhere we could go and do something in the car. I assumed he meant something sexual.

Mr Mason told the jury he knew the wooded area existed near where his parents farmed, but he didn’t know where it was.

16:27AMY WALKER
'I put the spanner up my sleeve'
Mr Mason is continuing to describe their journey to the woods and their encounter there.

I stopped the car. He was taking a picture of the car beforehand and I asked him if he wanted to stay in the car and he said no in case any cars came past.

Then Alex went to get out of the car and I grabbed the spanner from behind my driver’s seat in my car. I quite often leave tools on the floor in the car. I put the spanner up my sleeve.

When asked why he had taken the spanner with him, he said:

Because I felt threatened by Alex, I thought I might need it for protection because i wanted to have a conversation with Alex about what he has been putting me through mentally and couldn’t afford to carry on making the payments.

Asked what was going through his mind, he replied:

I just wanted Alex to understand where I was coming from, the money needed to stop and how it was affecting me and was hoping he would understand. I thought I would maybe take it [the spanner] to show I was being serious and I wanted it to stop.

16:32AMY WALKER
Mr Mason says he later threw Alex's phone from his car
When asked if he knew where Alex’s phone was, Mr Mason said no.

He went on to tell the jury that he had thrown Alex’s phone from the car after discovering it on his passenger seat.

16:35KEY EVENT
'I did hit Alex over the head. I remember hitting him at least twice then I can’t remember after that.'
Returning to their encounter in the woods, Mr Mason confirmed that they both got out of the car and the lights were turned off.

We walked into the clearing of the woods. Alex undid the button on my jeans, I told him to stop and I needed to tell him something. The jeans stayed around my waist at that moment in time.

I told him I didn’t have the money and I told him I couldn’t afford to give him any more money and I wouldn’t be giving him any more money in the future.

I said it’s making me feel really depressed and I’m feeling suicidal and thought about taking my own life.

He said: ‘You’re *advertiser censored**ing stupid, you *advertiser censored**ing idiot, wasting my time, messing me about. I told you I would ruin your life financially or socially.’ Then he pushed me over.

He carried on calling me *advertiser censored**ing stupid. The spanner fell out of my jumper when he pushed me over.

He picked the spanner up and started swinging it around and he hit me on the right side of my forehead. Hard.

He was stood up. There was one blow to my head and he tried to hit me again, I’m sure he was aiming for my head, but I think it hit me on my left shoulder or right shoulder.

I was trying to get up off the floor. I was trying to get the spanner off him. He was punching and I did eventually get the spanner off him.

I did hit Alex over the head. I remember hitting him at least twice then I can’t remember after that.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
16:56AMY WALKER
Mr Mason accepts he hit Alex 15 times but claims he can't recall it
Mr Cole QC asked Mr Mason: “Do you accept you hit him 15 times?”

He replied: “Yes I do accept that.”

“Do you recall doing that?” Mr Cole QC asked.

“No” he said.

“I remember when I eventually took hold of myself I was leaning on the ground and the spanner was in my hand. Alex was on the floor and he was still breathing. My trousers had fallen down from my waist, I could see blood on my clothing and blood on my hands.”

“What was going through your mind?” Mr Cole QC asked him.

Mr Mason replied: “Panic. I couldn’t believe what I had done. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Did you mean to kill him?” Mr Cole asked.

“No”, he said.

“Did you want to kill him?” Mr Cole asked.

“No,” he said.

“Did you want to seriously hurt him?” Mr Cole asked.

“No,” he said.

“Did you take him into the woods to kill him?” Mr Cole asked.

“No,” he said.

“Was any of what happened planned?” Mr Cole asked.

“No,” he said.

He went on to tell the jury he knew Alex was seriously injured and thought he had killed him.

When asked how he felt, he said: “Ill, sick, couldn’t believe it, just shocked.”

16:57KEY EVENT
Mr Mason admits Alex was still breathing when he left the scene
Mr Mason told the jury:

I went back to my car, got my pack of cigarettes, and went back to the woods trying to think about what to do.

I pulled my trousers back up and fastened them. I had my cigarette and I realised Alex was still breathing.

I was there for about 10 to fifteen minutes until I eventually decided to leave in my car. I wanted to go back home but I started to feel sick so I pulled my car over. I got out.

I wasn’t actually sick, I was just heaving. I got back in the car and that’s when I saw Alex’s phone on my passenger seat. I started to panic again and threw it out of the car.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
17:02AMY WALKER
Defendant went to the pub after leaving Alex for dead
Mr Mason continued: “I went to a couple of pubs, I had contact with Edward Simms and asked him what he was doing and said if I could go to his place, which was something I would normally do.”

He confirmed he stopped to clean himself up and he said he put the spanner in the boot of his car. He said he tried to behave as how he normally would ‘as much as he could’.

He also said the selfie he had taken and sent to his friends was ‘an accident’.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
17:03AMY WALKER
Mr Mason says he then went back to the woods and found Alex dead
He told the jury:

I started getting messages and phone calls off Alex’s friends. I went back to the wooded area as I wanted to make sure Alex was still there and he was.

That’s when I realised Alex had died at that point. I went back mainly to move him. I wanted him to be found but I wasn’t ready to go to the police. I felt if he was left there, it could be days before he was found. I thought it was best to move him so he could be found.

He added: “My head was in a mess, I didn’t know what to say or what to do.”

He also said he knew the police car was following him afterwards and accepted that he did try to drive away from the police.

“I didn’t want to stop, I just wanted to try and get away from them,” he said.

“Did you think you were going to get away with what you had done?” Mr Cole QC asked.

“No, I knew I was going to be arrested,” Mr Mason said.

17:04AMY WALKER
The trial has concluded for the day
We’ll be back in court tomorrow when the case resumes.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
10:49AMY WALKER
The trial is resuming
The jury has been brought in to court as Friday’s proceedings begin.

We’ll be bringing you live updates from the court throughout the day.

10:59AMY WALKER
Mr Mason accepts he fractured Alex's skull and left him to die
Mr Ian Unsworth QC is now asking Mr Mason questions in the form of cross examination.

“How hard did you hit him?” the prosecutor asked.

“I couldn’t tell you that,” Mr Mason replied.

“Why can’t you tell us that?” Mr Unsworth QC asked him.

“I can’t remember,” he said.

Mr Mason went on to confirm he did remember hitting Alex twice, but accepted he may have hit him 15 times.

When asked why, he said: “Because I remember feeling a range of emotions at the time towards Alex.”

Mr Mason accepted the force of his blows caused Alex’s skull to fracture and caused parts of his skull to fracture and penetrate his brain.

“Do you accept you left him to die?” Mr Unsworth QC asked him.

“Yes I do,” he replied.

When asked what he did to help Alex, he said “nothing”.

When asked why, he said: “I don’t know.”

He told the jury he went to the pub afterwards because “I was still in shock and [it was] something to try and get the normality back in my life.”

He admitted that was important to him.

11:21AMY WALKER
"I thought maybe if I lied about the fact I disposed of the phone, it would help my case at the time."
It was put to Mr Mason by the prosecution that yesterday’s admission that he threw Alex’s phone out of his car window after finding it on the passenger seat was the first time he has ever mentioned this in the court proceedings.

When asked why he hadn’t said this before, he said: “Because I thought that I would try and find a way around the fact that the phone was still missing, and watching my friends giving evidence and swearing on the Bible, I thought the best thing to do was to tell the truth - which is what I did.”

He went on to say: “I thought maybe if I lied about the fact I disposed of the phone, it would help my case at the time. When I saw it on the passenger seat, the first thing that came to my head was to throw it out of the car window.”

When asked if he loved Alex, he said no.

When asked if he found Alex attractive, he said no.

When asked if he liked Alex, he said ‘as a friend’.

He confirmed he did have sexual activity with Alex, and when asked if he liked it, he said no, but confirmed that he ‘went back for more’.

After being asked why, Mr Mason said: “Because Alex made me think maybe it was something I would be interested in, which I realised it was something I was interested in or liked.”

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
11:28AMY WALKER
“It would appear you didn’t want Alex to tell the truth, is that why you killed him?”
Mr Mason went on to admit sending Alex an explicit photo and video of himself.

When asked why, he said: “He had repeatedly asked me for those images and like I said yesterday I had been to the pub and I decided to send the video.”

He confirmed the images were the ‘start of the downfall’ of his relationship with Caitlyn Lancashire.

He said: “I accept full responsibility for the way me and Caitlyn broke up.”

When asked if he hated Alex, he said no. He accepted the disclosure of the images were part of the reasons that ‘caused him to worry’.

He also said that it was Alex ‘wanting to tell people, my friends, that me and him had a relationship’. “

Was your concern that Alex would tell the truth?” Mr Unsworth QC asked him.

“My concern was the truth coming out and people wouldn’t accept me for what had happened,” he said.

“It would appear you didn’t want Alex to tell the truth, is that why you killed him?” he was asked. He said no.

“Are you now weeding a story around the facts?” the prosecutor asked.

“No I’m not,” Mr Mason said.

11:49AMY WALKER
Mr Mason claims he was looking for ways to kill himself when grilled about his internet search history
The cross examination has now turned to the events of December 7 when Alex’s mum, Lisa Rodda, caught Mr Mason in the house with her son.

When asked what the plan was, Mr Mason said: “I was just going to see him. He invited me up to his bedroom which was when he proceeded to give me a [sexual act].”

He said he stopped because: “One, he is a male. Two, his age.”

Mr Unsworth QC then began asking Mr Mason about his internet search history.

He told the jury of an occasion when Mr Mason had Googled ‘what happens if you kick someone down the stairs’, ‘everyday poison’, and ‘things that are poisonous’.

Mr Mason said: “I searched what would happen if you fell down the stairs and that was one of the links that came up. This was when I was feeling very depressed at the time, when I was feeling suicidal. I think I was looking at ways to kill myself.”

11:53AMY WALKER
"The killing - I’ll never forget that."
Cross examination is continuing.

Mr Unsworth QC asked Mr Mason: “You said yesterday that you felt sick and you felt ashamed, how did you feel about the killing of Alex?”

He replied:

I did feel depressed a lot, I would put on a front in front of my friends. I do still feel ashamed about it, the pain I caused to both sides, to my family and to Alex’s family.

It upsets me still. The killing - I’ll never forget that.

When asked if he thought Alex deserved to die, he said: “No I don’t.”

“You chose to end his life, didn’t you?” Mr Unsworth QC asked him.

“I wouldn’t say ‘chose’, but it happened,” he replied.

He went on to say he remembered using one hand on the wrench during the attack, and told the jury that his trousers were down because ‘Alex proceeded to unbutton them and I told him to stop and whilst we were discussing money and how I felt, I didn’t bring fasten them again’.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
12:11AMY WALKER
Mr Mason says he thought people 'wouldn't accept' him if he was gay or bisexual
Mr Mason went on to tell the jury that he asked friends and his manager for money to help with the payments to Alex.

I was embarrassed, I thought they wouldn’t accept me for what happened. Because what me and Alex had done together, they wouldn’t understand why it happened and they wouldn’t accept me if I was gay or bisexual. I didn’t think at the time any of them would.

When asked if he was ‘quite happy to pay’ Alex, he said: “On some occasions when it was small amounts, I was quite happy. Alex did say he would pay me back at some stage.”

He also confirmed having sexual activity with Alex on three occasions, once on November 5 and twice on December 7.

When asked by Mr Unsworth QC when he began getting suicidal thoughts, he told the jury: “I started having these feelings just after me and Caitlyn split up and Alex started to ask for money. I thought the best thing to do was to carry on with life as normal.”

12:15AMY WALKER
Jury is shown message from Alex to Mr Mason's ex-girlfriend
A message that Alex sent to Mr Mason’s ex-girlfriend Caitlyn Lancashire on November 3 is now being shown.

It reads: “Because I thought I should let you know that the past two to three weeks Matt has been trying to message me. He came to my house in his car to meet me last week but I told him my dad wouldn’t let me out so I didn’t meet him. I have told him it has to stop but just thought I’d let you know before he does a d***head move and I didn’t know he was dating you until I went to go follow him on Instagram.

Mr Mason told the court:

Alex asked me to go round to his house before he had contact with Caitlyn, I did agree I would meet him. I started making my way towards his house on Holly Grove and part of the way there I received a message from him and he said he would not be able to see me because I think he said his stepdad was there.

There was no particular reason why I would go round, he just said he would like to see me.

12:17AMY WALKER
Jurors are shown a Snapchat exchange between Mr Mason and Alex
The jury was then shown a screenshot of a Snapchat conversation between Alex and Mr Mason. It reads:

Matt - why

Alex - Because it’s wrong

Matt - Ok

Alex - U have a gf that loves, there’s no need to speak to me

Mr Unsworth asked Mr Mason: “It appears a 15-year-old was telling you this was wrong, do you accept that?”

“This was the only time he ever mentioned this to me - but yes,” he replied.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
12:39AMY WALKER
More Snapchat messages are shown to the court
In a screenshot of the message exchange between Alex and Caitlyn Lancashire, he tells her that Mr Mason was ‘talking to him in a flirty way’.

Mr Mason told the jury: “Only after he sent me messages like that. When it started I just laughed it off, then I thought whether I was confused about whether I was interested in that sort of thing with Alex.”

When asked if he wanted to have sexual contact with Alex, he said: “I wasn’t 100% sure whether I did or didn’t, that’s what I was concerned about.”

In another screenshot of a Snapchat message Alex sent to Mr Mason, it said: “Look your girlfriend loves you, she doesn’t know what to think because she you were together for 2 years like wtf. if you were that serious u should not of got your d**k out at the end of the day, u need to tell your girlfriend the truth Matt because I already have.”

He accepted receiving that message and didn’t respond.

He also went on to tell the jury that, two days after this message, sexual activity between himself and Alex took place.

The jury was then shown the message exchange between Alex and Mr Mason on Snapchat, where Alex tells him: “I will literally put ur d**k on my story and @ u if you dont stop lying.”

Mr Mason responded: “I’m talking to her please dont Alex please.”

He said: “After this he asked me for money.”

He accepted that there was no proof of this on the messages on Alex’s phone as he had thrown it out of the car after the attack.

12:58AMY WALKER
Mr Mason is asked if the money was to 'buy Alex's silence'
The jury was then told that Mr Mason set up Alex as a payee on his Nationwide bank account.

He said: “Alex asked me for the money and I asked him for his bank account details. I set him up as a payee on my bank account.”

When asked if this was to ‘buy Alex’s silence’, he said: “At the time I suppose yes, that’s what it was for. He asked me to give him this money so he wouldn’t put this picture on his Snapchat story.”

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court
 
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