GUILTY UK - Louise Smith, 16, Havant, Hampshire, 8 May 2020 *Arrest*

[Legally Bland]

11:52DAVID POWELL
"Follower" and a "people pleaser"
Andrew Houston said that a girl who used to go camping with Shane Mays tells the court in a statement that he was "a follower" and a "people pleaser".

11:56DAVID POWELL
Search officer statement
The prosecutor is now quoting a Hampshire Constabularly Licenced Search Officer Clifford Twitcher about a search in Havant Thicket on May 21, following Louise's disappearance on May 8.

11:58DAVID POWELL
Searcher found a body
The prosecutor reads a statement in which LSO Twitcher tells how he found a body by a log in the forest.

12:02DAVID POWELL
"Body lying on her back"
Mr Twitcher said he stepped over a log and could see a body lying on its back. It had been burned but he would suggest it was a female. Her legs were spread and her arms were upwards, he said.

12:03DAVID POWELL
Log was also burned
Parts of a tree log had been scorched, LSO Twitcher said in his statement.

12:04DAVID POWELL
Searchers marked and left the scene
LSO Twitcher said he informed his team leader about the discovery. They marked their route out of the forest to a track using police tape. It was a distance of 40 metres.

Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Legally Bland]

12 minutes ago
Shane ‘didn’t have many friends’
In a statement from childhood friend Thomas Dickson, the court was told that Shane didn’t have many friends.

He said: ‘I’ve known Shane since we went to Warren Park Primary School. During school years he didn’t have many friends.

'Myself and Shane, with others, would regularly go and camp in Havant Thicket, near the banger racing track and the Bomb Holes.

‘While camping we would chop wood and set up fires.’

In his interview with DC Donovan, Shane admitted that he had a small circle of people - his wife, his mum and Louise, when she moved in.

6 minutes ago
Pathologist to give evidence
There is a short break in proceedings to clean the witness stand - after this, pathologist Dr Basil Purdue will be giving evidence.

 

[Legally Bland]

12:08DAVID POWELL
Sticks at the scene
According to the prosecutor, Abby Biddulph, another Licenced Search Officer for Hampshire Constabulary, was also among the searchers.

She said in her statement that there were sticks at the scene. The body's "jaw was dismantled" and her "hair was singed".

12:11DAVID POWELL
Court takes a short adjournment
The prosecution say that they will be calling pathologist Dr Basil Purdue to give evidence next.

But the Judge Mrs Justice May DBE said the court will rise for a break before then.

Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Legally Bland]

12:16DAVID POWELL
Restarting proceedings now
The judge and jury have returned

12:18DAVID POWELL
Pathologist in the witness box
Prosecutor James Newton-Price QC has called an independent forensic pathologist on the Home Office list, Dr Basil Purdue, to give evidence. Dr Purdue says he has been a pathologist since 1978.

12:20DAVID POWELL
Pathologist visited the scene of the discovery of a body in forest
JNP is questioning Basil Purdue about how he was informed of an incident and taken to Havant Thicket at 16.10 on May 21, 2020

Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Legally Bland]

Dr Basil Purdue
Dr Basil Purdue is a veteran pathologist, and has been plying his trade since 1978.

He carried out the autopsy on Louise Smith’s body on May 22, the day after it was found by police in Havant Thicket.


Louise Smith murder trial: Live updates as investigating officers continue to give evidence

 

[Legally Bland]

12:20DAVID POWELL
Pathologist visited the scene of the discovery of a body in forest
JNP is questioning Basil Purdue about how he was informed of an incident and taken to Havant Thicket at 16.10 on May 21, 2020

12:27DAVID POWELL
He saw a body lying in a "boxer's stance"
BP said he saw the body of "apparently" a female on a patch of fire damaged ground, two metres from a tree trunk. She was lying in a "pugilistic stance" or boxer's position with her arms drawn up

12:28DAVID POWELL
Remnants of clothes
BP is giving graphic evidence. He said there were also remnants of clothes at the scene.

Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Legally Bland]

To be on the safe side I'm just going to put the rest of the pathologist evidence in spoilers. No idea what they're going to report.

Spoiler

12:29DAVID POWELL
Belly and chest badly burned - pathologist
The female's "belly and chest" had been badly burned, said the pathologist.

Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Legally Bland]

Spoiler

3 minutes ago
Pathology report
Dr Basil Purdue is telling the court about the condition of the body when it was examined for an autopsy.

Most of the detail is too graphic for publication, but her body was ‘heavily burned’ with a number of bones fractured.

 

[Legally Bland]

Spoiler

12:34DAVID POWELL
Clothes partly "covered by ash"
Part of the clothes were "severely fire damaged and covered by ash" - pathologist

12:37DAVID POWELL
Facial injuries
The bones in her face were also badly damaged - pathologist

Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Legally Bland]

Spoiler

12:42DAVID POWELL
Pathologist is listing injuries
Dr Purdue is going through a list of injuries he found in the body during his post mortem examination.

Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Legally Bland]

Spoiler

12:48DAVID POWELL
Pathologist explaining location of injuries
The pathologist, wearing a dark suit and striped tie, is gesturing around his body to indicate where there were the various injuries and fire damage.

Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Legally Bland]

Spoiler

12:54DAVID POWELL
Stick used in incident
There had been a pointed stick, just under two feet long, which had been pushed towards the liver - pathologist.

Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Legally Bland]

Spoiler

13:06DAVID POWELL
"Catastrophic injuries" - pathologist
Dr Basil Purdue found that the specific cause of death was "unascertained" but that there had been "catastrophic injuries, severe blood loss and copious inhalation of blood."
Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Legally Bland]

13:10DAVID POWELL
Cross examination of forensic pathologist
Andrew Langdon QC, defending, is now cross examining the pathologist.

Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Legally Bland]

Spoiler

13:11DAVID POWELL
Some injuries could have been after death
Asked if some "mechanical injuries" could have been inflicted before and some after death, Dr Purdue agrees.

Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Legally Bland]

13:17DAVID POWELL
Court breaks for lunch
The judge Mrs Justice May DBE has now risen and the murder trial of Shane Mays will resume at 2.15pm.

Mays, 30, of Somborne Drive, Havant, has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 16-year-old Louise Smith but denies her murder.

The body of the Hampshire teenager was found in Havant Thicket woodland on May 21.

Live updates on Louise Smith murder case from day 6 of trial

 

[Bogyo13]

Sorry if too graphic

Spoiler

So she was burnt on the front and then turned on the back?

 

[Skigh]

With all those awful injuries would it be possible to tell if she was in the early stages of pregnancy?

 

[Skigh]

How do you post a comment using the spoiler button?

 

[Legally Bland]

How do you post a comment using the spoiler button?

Highlight the text, then press the insert button (just left of the floppy disk button) and select spoiler.