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BLUDGEONED to death: Jacqueline Ross’s body was found after she was killed while out walking her dog, Rosie.
Convicted robber denies brutal Disley murder
Kirsty Elleray9/11/2005
A CONVICTED criminal from Disley who is accused of bludgeoning a woman to death only three days after he was released from custody, has denied any part in the attack.
Ben Redfern-Edwards, aged 21, is accused of murdering beautician Jacqueline Ross, 44, because, according to the prosecution, he feared she would report him for allegedly assaulting her and he would be sent back to prison.
The defendant denies killing her, but this week the trial heard he admitted finding her bloodied body near a canal in Disley, Chester Crown Court heard.
He told the court he did not alert the police because he feared he would be blamed.
Redfern-Edwards is accused of battering Mrs Ross to death with a rock as she went for a Sunday morning walk with her dog Rosie along the Peak Forest Canal towpath.
He had been released only a few days earlier from a Young Offenders' Institution after serving just under two years of a four-and-a-half year sentence for attempted armed robbery and possession of an imitation firearm.
Mrs Ross, from New Mills, who had two young sons both under six, suffered "horrific" head injuries in the attack on January 30, this year.
She died nine days later in hospital.
Redfern-Edwards told the court he was walking home along the towpath on the morning of the attack following an all-night drinking session.
He said he heard a woman screaming and when he went to investigate he saw a bloodied body lying at the bottom of a bank with a man standing over her.
"I saw a person laying on the floor, I could tell it was a woman because of the long hair," he said.
"The head was covered in blood, it looked like a lot of blood and a male stood by her."
Redfern-Edwards said the man stared at him and he panicked and ran away.
He said: "I was just shocked and panicked because I had just been released from jail. In Disley anything that happens, I always seem to get the blame for because I have a bad reputation, so I left.
"If I had reported it to the police they would have blamed me."
Redfern-Edwards ran home and changed out of his clothes, which were covered in mud, before going to stay with a relative in Wigan, the court heard.
His father Paul Edwards has admitted getting rid of the clothes but Redfern-Edwards denied knowing anything about this.
He also denied confessing to his parents that he had attacked a woman after her dog bit him, and making similar confessions to two prisoners while on remand.
The court heard the defendant was arrested two days after the attack but did not tell the police what he had witnessed and answered "no comment" to any questions.
He told the court: "They had just arrested me for an offence I hadn't committed, I wasn't going to co-operate."
Robin Spencer QC, defending, asked him: "Have you told the jury the truth?"
The defendant replied: "Every word I have said is the truth."
The trial continues.
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12/11/2005 at 13:18
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