Jury sent out to consider verdict in Alex Rodda murder trial

His Honour Judge Everett, the Honourary Recorder of Chester, finished his summing up of the case on Wednesday morning, which began on December 7.

He reminded the jury how under cross-examination, the defendant, Matthew Mason, 19, of Ash Lane, Ollerton, had denied deliberately killing 15-year-old Alex, but had instead lost control.

Mason had admitted driving the 15-year-old, from Pickmere, to remote woodland in Ashley on December 12, 2019, but denied this had been with the intention of killing him.

The trial had earlier heard how Mason had paid the Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School student more than £2,000 in various instalments, as a means of stopping the teenager disclosing sexually explicit images of him on to social media.

When asked what his motives had been the night he picked Alex up in his Renault Clio, he replied it was so the pair could talk 'face to face' about him wanting the threats and payments to stop.

Judge Everett said: "We know from evidence provided by his mother that Alex had appeared excited to be going out that night.

"During the drive to the location Mason said he wouldn't say Alex was happy, but was just his normal self.

"He denied the suggestion the secret place had been his idea and that it was Alex who had suggested it days earlier."

Mason, a member of the Young Farmers club and a student at Reaseheath College, admitted leading Alex into the woodland and agreed he was 'misleading' and 'deceiving' him by not mentioning the fact he wanted to talk to him about the money, rather than going there for sex.

When asked why he had hidden a wrench in his right sleeve, Mason said it was to show Alex he was 'serious' and wanted to 'scare him' and 'threaten him with violence'.

Mason claimed Alex punched him to the right temple, causing him to fall backwards and how the wrench had slid out of his sleeve and been picked up by the victim, before he managed to grab it back and attacked him.

Judge Everett said: "Mason said he remembered the blows but not the exact number.

"He said he imagined they had been hard blows.

"He denied holding Alex as he was striking him, despite previously saying he couldn't remember these things."

When it was suggested under cross examination he had been 'ruthless' Mason denied that saying he had been 'at breaking point'.

Mason also hit Alex several times on the back of the head as he lay face down on the ground and agreed he had been 'overly aggressive' and out of proportion compared to what he had said Alex had done to him.

"Mason said he was not sure why he struck him whilst he was on the floor," Judge Everett added.

"He said that there had been blood all him, including on his hands and face and that there was lots of it."

Mason said Alex had been breathing but not moving when he left the scene, stopping only briefly to discard Alex's mobile phone.

"He didn't think about helping him or moving him," Judge Everett said.

"He denies deliberately killing Alex and creating a false alibi by meeting friends in the Red Lion pub soon afterwards."

When told he had been in a rush to get to the pub afterwards, he replied he 'just wanted to do normal things'.

Lying in bed later on that evening, he said he 'felt terrible' about what had happened and drove back to the woods were he moved Alex's body closer to the road after deciding it would be 'better if he was found'.