Maureen Rickards is accused of murdering her husband. She then hid his body in the garden. The grass was cut days before discovery.
Adrian Young noticed a weird smell. He said it smelled like a dead animal. He was cutting the lawn on June 26th at the house on St Martin’s Road. Jeremy Rickards’ body was later found there in a bag under some grass.
Maureen Rickards allegedly hired the men to cut the grass and paid them £20. Police found Rickards’ body two weeks later, near where the men had been working. He was 65 years old and his body was hidden in a garden holdall.
He was curled up in underwear and bin bags covered him inside the holdall. Overgrown plants and grass hid the bag. The wife allegedly stabbed him after June 8th. The prosecution stated she stored his body upstairs in a cupboard at her student housing before moving him downstairs, the court heard.
The corpse was badly decomposed when police found him on July 11th. His step-daughter had reported him missing six days prior. Rickards denies murdering her husband. Prosecutors say she abused him, stating he was “battered and bruised.”
A post-mortem found stab wounds on his chest, some of which had pierced his heart. He also had broken ribs and neck. Some fractures were old, while others were new. Mr. Young was asked to cut the grass at number 32, as he was working nearby.
Mr. Young said a woman asked them. He described her as “dark-skinned” and in her 30s. They agreed to cut the grass quickly. They worked another job first and then returned an hour later.
The woman showed them to the garden and said she wanted it nice for a barbecue, wanting the garden presentable. The grass was very long. Mr. Young used a trimmer, and Mr. Manuel raked the grass. Later, they found Rickards filmed them from the kitchen.
They did not work on trees and the job took about fifteen minutes, he estimated. The man then noticed a strange smell at the end of the garden. “There was a really funny, musty smell,” he said. “It smelt like a dead animal.” They did not check the odor’s source as they were only hired to cut grass.
He did not mention the smell to the woman, who paid in cash and tipped them £10, he stated. She thanked them for the work on the garden. He saw police at the house the next day, after finding the body.
He told the police about working in the garden and that he asked the woman where to dump clippings. The court heard she told him to dump them under bushes. They threw the grass under the bushes, and the woman let them work without giving any restrictions.
An entomology expert investigated. An entomologist is someone who studies bugs. Dr. Whitaker examined the room, site, and Rickards’ body. She analyzed flies and maggots, and considered weather and temperatures.
She said the body moved outside between July 3rd and 6th. Dr. Whitaker said the indoor holdall was unlikely to be in use, noting that flies could lay eggs through zippers and plastic bags needed to be very tight.
She could not rule out the garden as the disposal site, even after the grass cutting date.
Forensic scientist Kim Edwards gave new findings, stating she found “pooled blood” under carpet in the cupboard. The blood was cleaned but still present and the blood volume was very large. “It’s not typical loss,” she said. “Someone was bleeding for a significant time.” The trial continues with more witnesses.