Jacksdale man and his brother were 'in it together' in the murder of 85-year-old sex offender, court is told

The body of 85-year-old Henry Thwaites was found by the roadside in Lime Tree Avenue, Clumber Park, near Worksop, in the morning of Sunday, July 24, last year.

Matthew Roe, aged 25, of Franklin Road, Jacksdale, and 34-year-old Luke Roe, of Potter Street, Worksop, both deny his murder, along with four counts of fraud for allegedly trying to use Mr Thwaites’s bank card following his death.

Luke Roe is also charged with criminal damage for allegedly smashing the windscreen of a friend’s car in Retford later on the Sunday morning.

Abigail Dixon, 27, of Watson Road, Worksop, denies two counts of assisting an offender, by allegedly helping the brothers to clean up after the alleged murder and also burning their clothing.

On the third day of the trial, the jury was told by prosecution barrister John Cammegh KC that the brothers were “in it together”, in relation to both the murder and the attempts to access Mr Thwaites’s money.

He said the pensioner had died as a result of blunt force trauma to his head, in an attack which took place both inside and outside his car on Lime Tree Avenue, on the edge of Clumber Park and the Welbeck Estate, near Warsop.

The jury was also shown a three-dimensional reconstruction of Mr Thwaites’s skull to show the fractures he endured.

He said there is no evidence as to what instrument was used to inflict those injuries, and no murder weapon was ever found.

On Monday, the court heard Mr Thwaites had been a close friend of the brothers’ mother before the family moved to the Worksop area from Kent in the 1990s, but they had later lost touch.

However, in early 2022, the pensioner had reconnected with the mother and offered to buy her a car after coming into money – about £34,000.

Shortly before his death, he had travelled to Worksop to buy the siblings’ mother, Caroline Roe, a Suzuki car valued at £600.

CCTV later showed Mr Thwaites climbing into his Fiat Punto car with Luke and Matthew Roe.

The trial continues.