Murder trial brother overheard: ‘I’m going to get 25 years minimum’

Matthew Roe, aged 25, of Jacksdale, and his 34-year-old brother Luke Roe, deny murdering their mother’s friend Henry Thwaites, who suffered skull fractures and died last year after being taken out of his car and beaten.

Mr Thwaites had served two separate prison terms for offences against boys under 16, and was visiting the brothers’ mother when they left her home with him, on July 23, last year, Nottingham Crown Court has previously heard.

Mr Thwaites’s Fiat Punto was picked up on registration recognition cameras turning on to Lime Tree Avenue, Clumber Park, at about 10.40pm, where he is said to have died.

The court heard the brothers later travelled to Abby Dixon’s address, on Watson Road, where it is alleged she helped them dispose of clothes in a garden incinerator.

On Wednesday, a neighbour on Watson Road said he saw the brothers enter her address and later overheard one of them say: “I’m going to get 25 years minimum, man.”

He said he saw a “big guy” in Dixon’s back garden with blood on him, and later found out from someone in the house they were burning clothes.

However, he admitted having a poor memory and admitted he was intoxicated on the night.

John Cammegh KC, prosecuting, said at an earlier hearing: “Mr Thwaites was taken out of his car and beaten to death. It would appear some of that beating took place inside the car. Among his injuries were several complete fractures to his skull.”

His body was concealed under a metal fence and found by a passing motorist the next morning, the court heard.

The brothers were arrested the next morning driving Mr Thwaites’s car, which was stopped by a police stinger.

Ms Dixon, 27, described in court as being in a relationship with Luke Roe, denies two counts of assisting an offender.

Luke Roe, of Potter Street, Worksop, and Matthew Roe, of Franklin Road, Jacksdale, deny murder and four counts of fraud, while Luke also denies damaging a car windscreen using an unopened beer can.

The trial continues.