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A Birmingham pensioner who entered the wrong waterfront home in Barmouth and climbed into bed was discovered by the owner, ‘dragged downstairs by the ankles and trampled’, a court heard. Margaret Barnes suffered injuries similar to those expected in a “high-speed highway traffic collision” and died shortly after, a jury has heard.

David Redfern, who allegedly discovered the half-naked drunken pensioner, who apologized for entering the house rather than her nearby B&B, denies murdering her outside her home in Marine Parade, Barmouth, on July 11 last year.

A jury heard that Redfern, 46, who is 6ft 1in tall and weighs 21 stone, has “self-confessed” anger management issues, according to prosecutor Michael Jones KC when he opened the Crown case in Court of the Crown of Caernarfon.

The court heard that Ms Barnes, 71, who was a retired worker from Baldwins Lane, Birmingham, had been visiting friends in Barmouth last summer. She had been to other B&Bs, but on July 10 she went to an ice cream parlor, Mermaid Fish and Chips, and a Spar store.

There he bought some gin and around 10 pm he walked to Wavecrest B&B, pulling his small rolling suitcase and carrying his bag, but ended up at Belmont House, a large five-story row house, which was on the same side of the street. the street, but several doors down from the Wavecrest.

Belmont House, just down the street from Marine Parade, was being renovated by Redfern and his partner Nicola Learoyd-Lewis.

Jones said: “Mrs Barnes had been drinking and if she thought this was Wavecrest, she went in and went to bed. She mistook the defendant’s address for the B&B, but it was a mistake that ultimately cost her her life.”

She went into an upstairs bedroom, removed her dentures and put them on a nightstand, pouring herself a gin into a glass while holding a bottle of tonic. The indictment claims that when Redfern and Ms. Leroyd-Lewis entered, they found the “fragile” retiree there “half-naked on the edge of the bed” with her belongings strewn across the floor in a mess.

The court heard that Redfern called Ms Barnes a “fucking thief” and dragged the seven and a half stone woman down the stairs by her ankles and stomped on her outside. The jury heard Redfern say, “She probably didn’t do her much good me dragging her down the stairs by her ankles.” Later, she told police that she had been aggressive towards him, the court heard.

Her rolling suitcase had been thrown onto the street and it is alleged that he taunted the injured woman as she tried to gather her belongings into her suitcase there, while on her hands and knees. But he told officers that he didn’t know who dumped the suitcase, the jury heard.

Emergency services were called and a neighbor was told to perform CPR, but he developed difficulty breathing and succumbed to his injuries.

The prosecution said it was “obviously surprising” that Redfern found a frail elderly woman in one of his beds, but “what followed next was appalling.” Jones said: “Unexpected though her presence was, Ms. Barnes suffered ‘catastrophic, fatal and brutal injuries at the hands of the defendant’, who is a ‘thug’.

Home Office pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers discovered that Ms Barnes died from severe blunt force trauma. There were broken ribs and a broken neck, consistent with being dragged down the stairs, the prosecution says.

The prosecutor said a kick or stomp outside Belmont House caused his liver to rupture and a liter of fresh blood to his abdomen. The injuries were consistent with those of a “high-speed highway traffic collision,” he added.

Jones said the defendant had used “vicious and intentional violence and language” and that by acting ill-tempered or gratuitously he was “guilty of her murder.”

He claims that Ms. Barnes had “lunged” at his girlfriend in the bedroom and he intervened because he thought his girlfriend was in “danger”, by “bear hugging” Ms. Barnes outside the premises.

The three week trial is being heard by the judge, the Honorable Mr Justice Bourne Esq KC. Redfern denies murder and manslaughter. The trial continues.