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

[Legally Bland]

13:00AMY WALKER
The court is now hearing about Mr Mason and Alex's encounter on November 5
The cross examination has now moved to the sequence of events on November 5.

Mr Mason told the jury: “He said he wanted to see me a few times and I agreed I would go and see him. I wanted to know why he actually wanted this money. After I told him not to kiss me, he started to undo my trousers.”

The jury were then shown telematics of Mr Mason’s Renault Clio driving past Holmes Chapel High on his way to Holly Grove.

It was suggested to him that he had picked Alex up from school, he denied this.

When asked about the events of November 5, he was asked by Mr Unsworth QC: “Did he leap on you as soon as you got through the door?”

Mr Mason said: “He did give me a kiss, yes.”

When asked why he went there, he told the jury: “I went there to have a discussion about the money.”

When he was asked how he responded to Alex undoing his trousers, he said: “I was in shock at the time, I was unsure, nothing like this ever happened to me. I was very confused and in shock.”

“You could have easily pushed him away, you did not?” Mr Unsworth QC asked him.

“No,” he said.

When asked what was said about the money, he said: “Just that he still wanted the money because Caitlyn had been asking him questions.”

He said Caitlyn had been messaging him, “asking what I said to Alex as she wanted to know. He said for me to give him the £120 so he wouldn’t tell her.”

“Why on Earth did you ever go to his house?” Mr Unsworth QC asked him.

“Because I needed to talk to him about the whole money situation.”

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

13:07AMY WALKER
"He said if I didn’t pay the money he would tell all my friends and he would post on social media what me and him had been doing.”
Mr Mason was then asked if Alex loved him, to which he said he didn’t know.

“Other than performing oral sex on me, that was the only time we showed emotion,” he said.

The jury has now been shown a number of financial transactions from Matthew Mason to Alex Rodda.

On November 15, 2019, it shows that £720 was paid to Alex.

When asked about this he said: “He said if I didn’t give him the money he would tell everyone about what’s been going on between me and him.”

“What happened to cause the payments to escalate from £420 to £1,170 in a day?” Mr Unsworth QC asked him.

He replied: “Nothing had happened since Tuesday [November 5]. He kept asking for payments. He said if I didn’t pay the money he would tell all my friends and he would post on social media what me and him had been doing.”

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

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

14:14AMY WALKER
The trial is resuming
The jury has been brought back into court for the afternoon.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

14:56AMY WALKER
Mr Mason is asked about a message he sent to a friend
Mr Unsworth QC is asking Mr Mason about the events of September 14, when he had gone to the Red Lion pub with friends.

He accepted sending a message from his friend’s unattended phone to his own girlfriend, Caitlyn, stating: “I’m gay, I need to tell my friends but I don’t know how.”

When asked why he sent this message, he said: “It was a bit of a joke. We used to poke fun at him as he never had a girlfriend and we would often take the mick out of him. I sent the message to Caitlyn as I knew him and Caitlyn were friends.”

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

14:58AMY WALKER
Mr Mason is asked about his disposal of Alex's phone
Mr Mason was asked again about the location of Alex Rodda’s phone, and after being shown a map of the route he took pinpointed by telematics, he indicated he stopped his car along Moss Lane to ‘throw the phone’.

The jury were shown the telematics of his journey after he threw the phone. Cell site data showed he phoned Edwards Simms, a friend, four minutes after.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

14:59AMY WALKER
“Were you ready for a pint after killing Alex?”
Mr Mason was asked about going to the outbuilding.

He said: “I didn’t want to go and see him because of the state I was in. It seemed like a good idea to wash myself.”

He then confirmed he went to the pub, adding: “I wanted to see my friends.”

“Were you ready for a pint after killing Alex?” Mr Unsworth QC asked him.

“I wanted to do the most normal thing and that was to see my mates,” he replied.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

15:01AMY WALKER
Mr Mason says he is sorry Alex died
Mr Unsworth QC is continuing his cross examination.

“You said you felt shame and you said you were sorry for the issues that were caused on both sides. When you were driving away from Alex on that occasion to go to Hulse Farm. What were you thinking about what you were doing?” the prosecutor asked.

Mr Mason said: “Still in shock really.”

He confirmed he was trying to appear calm with friends following the attack.

“What did you think about what you had done to Alex?” Mr Unsworth QC asked him.

“I’m ashamed of what I had done to Alex.” he said.

“I did think about whether I should have gone back sooner and whether he was alive in the first place.”

He told the jury he thought Alex would have been in ‘serious pain’ and said he felt ‘upset’ for Alex.

“Are you sorry Alex has died?” he was asked.

“Yes” he said. He confirmed when asked that he ‘tried to lie his way through’ to start off with, but after seeing his friends in the witness box he said: “The truth would come out anyway even if I try to cover myself.”

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

15:03AMY WALKER
Mr Mason is asked about his custody confession again
Mr Mason is now being asked about the occasion he confessed to his ex-girlfriend about the killing of Alex.

He said: “I remember telling her I killed Alex and he had been blackmailing me. I remember not wanting to think about it any more because I was upset.”

Going back to the attack on December 12, Mr Unsworth QC asked him: “He had done nothing to warrant this, did he?”

“No,” Mr Mason said.

“You just went about your life as if nothing had happened?”

“Yes,” he said.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

15:05AMY WALKER
Mr Mason thought about calling emergency services - 'not as long as he should'
He went on to tell the jury that he thought about calling the emergency services ‘not as long as he should’, whilst he was in the pub with his friends.

When asked if he thought about going to the police regarding Alex allegedly blackmailing him, he said: “I didn’t think people would believe me. It would be my word against his. It was embarrassing.”

15:06AMY WALKER
"I felt like he was a bully"
The jury have now been shown screenshots of a Facebook message exchange showing Alex to say to Mr Mason: “U chat so much s**t... I’m giving u till 5 for £500 n £100 tomorrow”.

When asked how he felt about Alex and the situation he was in, he said: “I thought he was being a bit of a bully. I felt like he was a bully, I wouldn’t say I hated him, I was upset.”


Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

15:20AMY WALKER
“You must have had enough?”
“You must have had enough?” Mr Unsworth QC asked him.

“I started to feel down in myself, with everything going on.” Mr Mason said.

When asked if he took Alex to a ‘special secret place’, he said: “When he asked me if I knew of anywhere I said I knew of somewhere and I could take him there.”

The court is now taking a short break.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Mind your biscuits]

Thanks for all the court updates .

 

[Legally Bland]

15:57AMY WALKER
Mr Mason says he 'felt threatened' by Alex
The trial has resumed.

Mr Mason confirmed that he knew of the wooded area as it was near where his parents worked.

He also confirmed the road to the area was ‘lonely, off the beaten track and isolated’.

When asked if Alex had ever done anything to hurt him, he said: “He only hurt my feelings.”

“Why would you need to protect yourself from Alex?” he was asked.

“I didn’t know how he would react. I felt threatened by him. I don’t know if I was stronger than him.”

When asked if Alex was in love with him, he said: “I don’t know.”

Mr Mason told the jury: “Alex would quite often change his mood when he was talking to me.”

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

16:12AMY WALKER
The prosecutor is asking Mr Mason more about his explicit Snapchat messages with Alex
Mr Unsworth QC asked him: “Surely you would know if Alex took a screenshot of Snapchat of the explicit photo you sent him, it would show up on your phone?”

Mr Mason replied: “Yes, but there is a different way of sending pictures on Snapchat where you can set the amount of seconds the picture appears for, then it’s gone. You can take a screenshot to save it, but I have been told you can turn the notification off on Snapchat so it doesn’t notify someone.”

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

16:14AMY WALKER
Mr Mason searched internet for 'unsolved deaths of missing people' in week before the killing
The jury were then shown further internet searches on December 6, when Mr Mason searched the terms “People missing in Cheshire” and “The mysteries of Cheshire unsolved deaths of missing people”.

Mr Mason said: “I don’t think that was aimed at me or Alex.”

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

16:16AMY WALKER
“It took me quite a while to move the body”
“Why did you spend an hour with the body?” Mr Unsworth QC asked him.

“I was unsure what to do. I didn’t know whether to call the police. I smoked a few cigarettes and was thinking about what to do,” Mr Mason replied.

The jury were then shown CCTV images of Mr Mason’s car arriving back at Ashley Mill Lane at 1am, then leaving the area at 2.14am.

When asked again what he was doing for an hour, he said: “It took me quite a while to move the body.”

He went on to tell the jury: “Because if Alex was going to be found, he wouldn’t be found where he was. He would be more likely to be found where I left him. He was found near where my car was.”

He denied trying to dispose of Alex’s body.

He confirmed he ‘lied to Alex’s friends’, he confirmed he ‘offered to go round to Alex’s mum’s house to talk’ and he confirmed that he ignored the text message from the police.

He also said once he had the phone call with Caitlyn later than evening, that she ‘put his mind at ease’.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

16:27AMY WALKER
Mr Mason is being asked about his 'no comment' police interviews
The cross examination is now looking at the police interviews, where it’s been said previously that Mr Mason answered no comment to the questions asked of him

“Why did you answer no comment?” Mr Unsworth QC asked him.

“It was what I was recommended to do by my solicitor. I had never been in that situation before, that’s what I decided to do,” he replied.

“Didn’t you want to tell the police you were the victim here, you had been blackmailed and you had been attacked?” the prosecutor asked him.

“Like I said before, I had been advised by my solicitor to go no comment so that’s what I decided to do. I’d never been in that situation before,” Mr Mason said.

He confirmed that he was ‘paying Alex money to keep the relationship quiet’.

When asked why he didn’t tell the police this, he said again that he had been advised to enter no comment to questions asked of him.

16:27AMY WALKER
Mr Mason is now being asked about the passerby who took a photo of his car near the woods
The jury has previously heard that passerby Simon Hope took a picture of Mr Mason’s car when it was parked at the gate next to the wooded area.

When asked about this, Mr Mason told the jury: “I remember someone stopping by the side of my car, I didn’t know whether he was taking a picture. I was still in the woods at this point and Alex was already on the floor.”

It was suggested this was twenty minutes after Mr Mason and Alex arrived at the same spot.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Legally Bland]

16:28AMY WALKER
The trial has now concluded for the day
The case will continue at Chester Crown Court next week.

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court

 

[Marg from Oz]

You can have a well earned rest for now. Legally Bland.
Thanks for all the updates.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Thank you for the updates, just catching up now.

What a kettle of fish this is!

 

[Legally Bland]

10:06
Trial set to resume
Good morning.

The jury is back in court and the trial is set to resume.

10:23
Mr Mason continues evidence under cross examination
Mr Mason is continuing giving evidence under cross examination.

He tells the jury that by the time Simon Hope, a passerby, had taken a photograph of his Renault Clio, he had ‘completed’ the events that led to Alex’s death.

He confirmed this happened a relatively short time after he and Alex and arrived at the woodland.

Asked why he remained in the woodland after the attack, Mr Mason said: “Because I was unsure as what to do at the time, whether I should go or stay and contact someone and tell them what happened.

“After what was happening I was struggling to decide what to do.”

He said the right thing to do was to ‘ring the police’.

Mr Ian Unsworth Qc asked Mr Mason: “Was your priority to cover up what you had done?”

”No,” Mr Mason said.

The jury and Mr Mason were then taken to the jury bundle, within which an agreed fact of the forensic analysis was read out.

It details the description of Mr Mason’s jeans upon arrest.

It has previously been said they were mud-stained and there was ‘wide blood staining, with spots and splashes of blood’.

Asked by the prosecutor if that meant Mr Mason was striking Alex while he was still bleeding, he said ‘yes’.

“I can’t remember how much but there was blood on my hands - probably from when I was hitting Alex,” the defendant adds.

10:44
Mr Mason talks through the events of December 7
It was put to Mr Mason that Alex had been performing oral sex on him before the attack. Mr Mason denied this.

“Did you attack him when he was on his knees and defenceless?,” Mr Unsworth QC asked.

”No,” Mr Mason said.

Turning to the events of December 7, 2019, when, the jury has heard, Alex’s mum Lisa found Mr Mason and her son together at her home.

Mr Mason accepted he had been to the house three times. He also confirmed that he believed Alex’s mum was out for the evening and went to the address to engage in sexual activity with Alex.

Telematics data shows Mr Mason was the house for five minutes before leaving, the jury has been told.

“On the first occasion you were there for five minutes and left quickly after, why is that?,” Mr Unsworth QC asked Mr Mason.

”Because Alex’s mum had come home,” the defendant replies.

He said Alex stopped performing a sexual act on him when his mum came into the room. He confirmed this all happened in about five minutes.

“Why did you drive back?,” he was asked.

Mr Mason says:

Alex said he needed some money to get some weed, he asked me to drive him to pick it up, I said I wouldn’t.

He then said he wanted more money to pay the drug dealer to drop it off. He wanted taking to the petrol station. He said his mum wanted some cannabis. He did invite me back when I returned.

I returned back to Alex’s house, he invited me back in. We went back upstairs.

I took my trousers down and Alex started performing oral sex. He asked me if I wanted to have sex with him, I told him I would, which I started, then I decided I didn’t like it.

We stopped then, I said ‘just go and sort this money out’.

Mr Mason says Alex didn’t get angry or upset with him, and confirmed that the idea for going back the second time was to ‘get him the cash out’.

Asked why Mr Mason keeps referring to the term ‘penetrative sex’, he said: “I struggled to talk about it, I still find it embarrassing to talk about it.

“I made the decision it’s best to talk about it.”

Alex Rodda murder trial: Latest updates from court