'It’s f****** lies'... jurors in murder trial asked to leave court after outburst

A murder trial jury was asked to leave court after the accused made an outburst from the dock. Ian Connell, who denies murdering Donald Patience, intervened as prosecutors detailed evidence in the case at the trial currently being heard at Manchester Crown Court.

He said: “I’ve been here for a week now listening to this, when am I going to be able to say something then? It’s f****** lies.”

Trial judge Mrs Justice Ellenbogen asked the jury to leave court for a time, before they re-entered and the case continued. Mr Connell, 39, is accused of killing 45-year-old Mr Patience in his own home in Radcliffe, Bury.

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Jurors have heard that Mr Connell had carried out ‘odd jobs’ for Mr Patience, and that Mr Patience would give him money. Mr Patience, also known by his middle name ‘Prentice’, was found dead at his home in Ainsworth Road on August 22 last year, after a postman called police when he alleges he noticed Mr Connell breaking into the property.

Mr Connell was then alleged to have been seen leaving with Mr Patience’s pet labradoodle, named Lola. When police arrived they searched the property and discovered Mr Patience’s body at the foot of the stairs.

A pathologist told jurors that he believed Mr Patience had died two days earlier, and that he had been strangled to death. In a police interview following his arrest, Mr Connell told officers: “I love that man like a f****** father. I ain’t f****** done it.”

On the fourth day of the trial, jurors heard evidence from a man named Karl Williams. He claimed to have overheard a phone call in which Mr Connell was allegedly ‘confessing’ to the crime to another resident.

Mr Williams said he was in the communal TV