Gambling Addict Kills Mom

Son claims he killed mum in revenge for 'past sexual abuse'

A GAMBLING addict yesterday denied murdering his elderly mother for her money, claiming he killed her in a rage years after she started sexually abusing him.

Neale James, 51, admits battering his mother – Cleethorpes-born Brenda James, 78 – round the head and burying her in woods on the Goodwood Estate, owned by the Earl of March in West Sussex, on March 17 this year.

He claims he had a "complex" relationship with his "difficult, domineering mother", telling the court she started having sex with him after his father's death when he was 13.

Born in Cleethorpes, Brenda James, nee Beeson, was the daughter of a docks electrician and a housewife.

She had three sisters, Rita and Susan, who are believed to still live in the resort, and Barbara. Barbara had lived in Scunthorpe, but passed away last year. Brenda attended Bursar Street and Thrunscoe schools, before working at Grant Street Post Office and a fish factory in Ladysmith Road.

In March 1955, she married draftsman and former Cleethorpes Grammar School student Roy James at Old Clee Church in Grimsby.

After their wedding, the couple relocated to Weybridge and later Chichester.

They had two children, Nicole and Neale, before Roy's death, aged 42.

James insists he snapped when she made nasty comments about his daughter while they were out for a walk, grabbed an axe-like instrument he found in the woods and hit her in a temper.

He claims he then buried her in a fox hole or badger set in a panic and went to police a week later, handing over a map which led to the discovery of her body.

However Jonathan Davies, prosecuting, told a jury at Lewes Crown Court the sex abuse claim was a "lie" James had cynically concocted at the last minute before his trial to justify his "calculated murder".

He said James "planned and prepared carefully" for the murder because he had borrowed more than £100,000 from his mother and blown most of it on his extreme fruit machine addiction.

Mr Davies told the court James had gone to the woods early on the morning of March 17 to dig his mother's grave, cutting through tree roots to make sure she would fit, then driven her there under false pretences at around 9am before killing her and burying her.

He said James then laid a false trail to try to cover his tracks, disposing of her handbag, mobile phone, shoes and all his clothes to hide any forensic evidence, and leaving a fake note in her caravan and sending texts to her mobile.

Mr Davies said James had been estranged from his mother for many years, but got back in touch when she sold the family house, leaving £330,000 in her bank account.

He kept going back to her for loans which he said he needed for his children and for his haulage business, the court heard, vowing to repay her once his high profile clients including Boots the Chemist, had paid him.

However he worked as a driver for a car hire firm and had never set up his own business.

In fact, he spent more than £75,000 of the £102,000 he borrowed on fruit machines in local betting shops over four years. Mr Davies said Mrs James, who was "careful" with her money, kept a meticulous log of her loans and had become concerned that her life savings were dwindling fast and he might never repay her.

He said James plotted to kill her to write off the enormous debt and get his hands on the rest of her money, which she had left to him. He told the jury a copy of her will was found at the home in Bognor Regis, where he lodged with his ex-partner and her boyfriend.

Mr Davies added Mrs James had been overweight, had problems with her legs and severe asthma and never liked to walk. He said: "It doesn't make sense that she would want to go and walk in the woods."

He said when her friends reported her missing, James decided to go to police and make a partial confession, telling them the story he wanted them to believe to get away with manslaughter.

Defending, Samuel Stein QC said: "This case is complicated. His relationship with his mother was very complicated.

"Neale James's father died when he was 13. When Neale was still a young man his mother started to have sex with him.

"Mrs James was a very difficult woman. Neale certainly felt that she dominated him and he felt incapable of getting away.

"The Crown's case is that Mr James planned to and then did kill his mother in cold blood."

However, he said, it was far more complex.

He said: "Because you have got the defendant's case that he was abused by his mother as a young man and that from that point onwards his relationship with his mother was complex and hard to understand."

He said that after confessing to police, James had drawn a picture of the weapon he claimed to have found in the woods which matched the home-made tool used by a tree surgeon who worked in the woods, supporting his claim he found it and did not take a weapon with him.

The trial is expected to last for up to five weeks. Keep checking your Grimsby Telegraph for updates.