Graham Snell murder trial: Accused 'fed body parts to badgers'
- Published
The cause of Graham Snell's death remains unknown due to the damage to his corpse, the court heard
A man who killed and dismembered a retiree in a bid to steal his money dumped his victim's remains in a badger sett, a court has heard.
Daniel Walsh, 30, is accused of murdering Graham Snell, 71, whose body parts were found in various locations around Chesterfield.
On the last day he was seen alive, Derby Crown Court heard, Mr Snell told police the defendant had been stealing from his bank account.
Mr Walsh denies murder.
Prosecutor Peter Joyce QC told jurors Mr Snell went to a police station on 19 June last year and told officers he had "a problem with a man who comes and stays at my house without being invited".
By the time officers went to his home in Marsden Street the next morning, Mr Joyce said, "Graham Snell was lying dead in his house".
"Also in his house but not answering that door was Daniel Walsh," he said.
The next day, the court heard, the defendant purchased 10 rubble sacks and two large saws "to cut through the bones of Graham Snell".
On 24 June, jurors were told, Mr Walsh loaded two or three large black bags containing "many parts of Mr Snell's body" into a taxi.
He then travelled to Barbon Close where he "buried or pushed" them into various parts of a badger sett, Mr Joyce said.
Three days later, he once again travelled by taxi to dump parts of the victim's torso in communal bins at a block of flats.
They were discovered on 2 July, the court heard.
'Piece of rubbish'
Mr Snell's head and arms were eventually found in a wood "a little way away" in February this year, the prosecutor said.
"What he did was awful and what he did was murder," Mr Joyce said.
"He killed him, he chopped him up, he fed him to the badgers, he put... his torso in a communal bin.
"It was murder to get his hands on this old, retired man's money and just dispose of him as a piece of rubbish."
The jury was also told Mr Walsh had previous convictions for stealing £5,000 from Mr Snell in 2009 and assaulting him in 2014.
Jurors were told the trial had originally begun in March but was stopped due to Covid-19.
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