A HALE man accused of killing a cattery owner he was having an affair with contacted her from a telephone kiosk because he did not want his calls to be tracked, a court heard.


David Ryan, 48, of Byrom Street, is accused of bludgeoning 54-year-old Diana Lee to death, mutilating her body with a chain saw and then lighting four fires at her Cranage home in an attempt to hide the evidence on August 9 last year.


At Chester Crown Court on July 8, Brian Cummings QC, prosecuting, asked Ryan how much he knew about cell site technology – which refers to the attainment of the current position of a mobile phone – before the commencement of the trial.


Ryan said: “As much as anyone on the jury I imagine.”


Mr Cummings asked why, if that was the case, had he had his wife, Karen Ryan’s, mobile phone fitted with a tracking device.


Ryan replied: “So I could see where to meet her and stuff like that.”


When Mr Cummings asked why Ryan simply did not call his wife and ask her where she was, Ryan replied that it was just a choice he made and it was ‘a perfectly innocuous’ tracking app.


Mr Cummings referred to Ryan’s mobile phone records, which showed he began contacting Mrs Lee from a telephone kiosk rather than his mobile in January 2012 and also appeared to show periods of mobile phone inactivity when he was thought to be at the victim’s house.


“Did you sometimes deliberately leave your phone at home?” Mr Cummings asked.
Ryan said that was not the case, he had just not received any calls during the specified times and then would check his voicemail as the signal is poor where he lives.


Mr Cummings also accused Ryan of receiving large amounts of cash from Mrs Lee and then attempting to hide any evidence of contact between them.


Mr Cummings referred to cell siting data, which placed David Ryan and Diana Lee at her home in Cranage at around 2pm on October 10, 2011.


Mr Cummings said Diana Lee withdrew £1,000 from a bank in Knutsford and Ryan’s phone was cell sited in Knutsford at 2.40pm and 3.42pm.


“Did you go with Diana Lee to Knutsford?” asked Mr Cummings.


“There was a time I did go to Knutsford and I got the train back, the timing is about right. I was probably hanging around for the train,” said Ryan.


“Or were you hanging around for cash?” asked Mr Cummings.


Ryan said ‘not at all’ and appeared to become agitated at being asked repeatedly by Mr Cummings if Diana Lee had given him money.


“I have had no monies from Diana Lee apart from the monies that I was due for the work that I did,” said Ryan.


Mr Cummings asked Ryan why, in January 2012, he suddenly started calling Mrs Lee from a telephone kiosk, when for the previous 15 months he had used his mobile phones.


“This happens a week after she withdrew £30,000, that’s purely coincidence? It’s not you trying to distance yourself?” asked Mr Cummings.


Ryan replied: “I’ve not distanced myself, I’ve continued having contact with Diana.”

David Ryan denies killing Diana Lee.

 

The trial continues.