Court hears man 'beat teenage lover to death over relationship blackmail' in Cheshire
Alex Rodda, 15, was killed in December 2019.
Last updated 7th Dec 2020
A teenager has gone on trial accused of murdering his 15-year-old lover in Cheshire.
Chester Crown Court has been told apprentice mechanic Matthew Mason bludgeoned Alex Rodda to death in December last year after paying more than £2,000 to stop him reporting their relationship.
The incident took place in woodland in Ashley on 12th December 2019.
Opening the trial at Chester Crown Court on Monday, Ian Unsworth QC, prosecuting, said: "The case for the prosecution is that Matthew Mason took Alexander Rodda to the woods on the pretence of sexual activity and then murdered him in cold blood.''
He said the defendant, then 18, and Alex had known each other for some months before his death and "enjoyed an intimate sexual relationship''.
Mr Unsworth told the court: For reasons, you may conclude, borne out of that relationship, the defendant took Alex to a remote wooded area near Ashley, not far from Bowdon in Cheshire.
"There, the defendant used a heavy and long wrench to beat Alex to the head and body over and over again.''
He said Alex, a pupil at Holmes Chapel High School, was struck with at least 15 heavy blows in the "brutal'' and "merciless'' attack.
He added: "Alex did not stand a chance. His life ended in those woods.
"His partially clothed abandoned young body was discovered by a team of refuse collectors early the next morning.''
Mr Unsworth said in November last year Alex contacted Mason's girlfriend of two years, Caitlyn Lancashire, to tell her the defendant was messaging him "in a flirty way'' and had sent him an explicit photo and video.
Mason denied the allegations to his girlfriend, the court heard, but began making payments to Alex's bank account at the same time.
Alex told a friend Mason was paying him for sex and if he stopped the payments he would report him to the police, Mr Unsworth said.
The jury heard his friend told Alex it was "akin to blackmail'' and wrong''.
By 23rd November Mason, who lived with his family on a farm near Knutsford, had paid £2,020 to Alex, the court was told.
Mr Unsworth said: "The messages that have been recovered show that, over time, the defendant was complaining that the payments were cleaning him out.''
The court heard telematics data from a tracker, used for insurance purposes, had been used by police to follow the movements of Mason's Renault Clio at the time of Alex's death.
Telephone and social media data had also been analysed although Alex's phone had not been recovered, Mr Unsworth said.
He said: "We suggest that the defendant disposed of that telephone and he has decided not to tell anyone where it is or where it went to.''
Family members of Alex and of the defendant were in the public gallery of court as the trial opened on Monday afternoon.
Mason, of Ash Lane, Ollerton, denies murder.
The trial is expected to last until early January.