Man denies brutal hammer murder

“MERCILESS” Andrew Mealing used a claw hammer to bludgeon to death and then rob a frail pensioner he had just met, a court heard.

Bristol Crown Court heard Mealing, 26, met 62-year-old John Hughes when Mr Hughes became a fellow tenant at Cadogan House, St Margaret’s Terrace, Weston-super-Mare.

Within three days Mr Hughes was dead, and Mealing confessed to friends he had “done him in” because Hughes had refused to give him money.

Mealing denies murder and robbery between April 18 and 21.

Ignatius Hughes QC, prosecuting, told the jury: “Mr Hughes was killed in his new flat in a merciless attack by Andrew Mealing, who beat him to death with a claw hammer. It was a sustained and deliberate attack. John Hughes was struck repeatedly to his head and face.

“It was an attack which must have been carried out with the intention to kill or at very least to cause really serious harm.”

Mr Hughes said that after the attack Mealing put the bloodstained hammer in a bag within a duffel coat and dropped it in a wheelie bin at the rear of the flats.

He said Mealing then took a taxi to Bristol and ended up at friend Keith Watkins’ home.

Mr Hughes told the jury: “He told Keith Watkins that an old man had moved in to the flat above. He said he asked John Hughes for money, but the old man refused.

“He said he grabbed a claw hammer and had gone up there and beat him up. He had mugged him for his money and mobile phone and he showed Keith Watkins the mobile he had taken.”

The jury was told Mealing also told acquaintance Tiffany Colgrave he had attacked someone while drunk on cider, and had killed a 62-year-old with a hammer, striking his head 15 times, before he put the hammer in a wheelie bin.

Mr Hughes said John Hughes had been in a platonic relationship with Joanne Shaw when they were fellow tenants at the flats. He said they went on to share a flat in Alfred Street, but Ms Shaw said she wanted to leave and Mr Hughes arranged to return to a flat at Cadogan House.

The jury was shown CCTV film clips of Mr Hughes and Mealing walking through Weston-super-Mare, and Mr Hughes buying a bottle of cider in a shop.

The court heard Cadogan House owner Paul Routledge discovered Mr Hughes’ body in his flat, next to a blood- smeared remote control car.

Police found Mealing’s fingerprints on the bag containing the hammer, and Mr Hughes’ blood on the hammer, coat and remote control car.

A post-mortem examination confirmed his death was caused by multiple blunt force impact to his head and neck.

Mealing, also known as Chipmunk, was arrested and gave “no comment” answers when interviewed.

The court heard he told tenant liaison manager Stacey Price he was bisexual and older men would “buy him stuff”.

Mealing had declared himself disabled, with attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder and Klinefelters syndrome, which means having an extra X chromosome.

The case continues.