A HOSPITAL security worker has gone on trial accused of murdering a man whose skeletal remains were found buried in a shallow grave in woodland near Carlisle.

Jack Ryan Crawley, 20, denies murdering 56-year-old Annan man Paul Taylor on October 18 last year and the attempted murder of a man near York several weeks later when he allegedly attacked him with a hammer.

The defendant further denies intentionally wounding the man in York, the charge being an alternative to attempted murder. 

Also on trial at the city’s crown court is 20-year-old Marcus Goodfellow, accused of 'assisting an offender'. According to the prosecution, he helped Crawley – described as 'his friend' - to dispose of Mr Taylor’s car.

Prosecutors say he did this between October 17 and October 20 last year. 

Opening the case for the prosecution, David McLachlan KC set out the allegations that the jury will hear evidence about.

Mr Taylor was last seen alive by his wife on the evening on Tuesday, October 17, at 9.30pm, said the barrister. “It’s clear from the evidence that you will hear that shortly after 11pm he went out in his car and crossed the border into England,” said Mr McLachlan.

“He never came back home.

“His night clothes were found in the kitchen the next morning on Wednesday. He didn’t show up for work at The Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, where he worked as a catering manager.”

Extensive police enquiries confirmed there was no evidence that Mr Taylor was alive after  the early hours of October 18.

“It has since been established that, unbeknown to his wife and family, Paul Taylor had a sexual interest in men,” said Mr McLachlan.

Mr Taylor would meet up with other males to engage in sexual activities at what are known as ‘hook up’ locations in the Carlisle area, making the arrangements via gay dating apps such as Grindr or FabGuys.

There was evidence of a link between Mr Taylor and Crawley, the court heard. The barrister referred to police interviews with Crawley, when he denied murdering Mr Taylor, going so far as to say he did not know him.

“This was obviously not true,” said Mr McLachlan.

“On May 1, 2024, Jack Crawley, through his solicitors, informed the police where Paul Taylor’s body was. Police have since recovered Paul Taylor’s skeletal remains from Finglandrigg Wood.”

Twenty days after revealing this to the police, Crawley formally admitted 'unlawfully killing' Mr Taylor, entering a guilty plea at the crown court to the offence of manslaughter.

Mr McLachlan continued: “We anticipate that he will say he was trying to rob Paul Taylor’s car and it all went wrong. The prosecution does not accept this.

“The prosecution case is that this was a premeditated murder; that Jack Crawley had murder on his mind and carried out his plan by killing Paul Taylor.

"He then buried the body of Paul Taylor in a shallow grave at Finglandrigg Wood.

“As for Marcus Goodfellow, it is the prosecution case that he assisted Jack Crawley in trying to dispose of Paul Taylor’s car.”

When police arrested Crawley on November 15 last year, he was carrying a holdall containing numerous items of clothing and charcoal, as well as rubber gloves.

He said he needed the gloves for his security work at the hospital - to "calm, separate, and assist people with injuries."

York allegation

The jury also heard a brief outline of what the prosecution say was the attempted murder of a man at a location near York on January 4.

This happened some weeks after Crawley, of Sheehan Crescent, Raffles, Carlisle, was arrested on suspicion of murdering Mr Taylor but then released on conditional police bail.

After leaving the Carlisle home of his grandparents on New Year’s Eve, the court heard, Crawley travelled to Penrith, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and then York, where he visited a Tool Station outlet in the city.

Among other items, he bought a hammer.

Mr McLachlan described how the defendant arranged via the Grindr website to meet a man at a remote location on the outskirts of York, where they engaged in sexual activity.

It was during this that Crawley attacked the man with a hammer, said the KC.

“Jack Crawley says he was acting in self-defence as [the other man] had threatened him,” continued Mr McLachlan. But the prosecution case, said Mr McLachlan, was that what happened in York was not self-defence.

It was a “premeditated attempt to kill.”

Referring to the possible use of a hammer to cause fatal head injuries to Mr Taylor in October, Mr McLachlan suggested the York incident was an “almost carbon copy” of what happened in Carlisle, involving “extreme violence”.

The jury will begin hearing live evidence tomorrow.

Goodfellow, of Greystone Road, Carlisle, was granted bail until then while Crawley, of Sheehan Crescent, Raffles, Carlisle, remains remanded in custody.