St Mary's Car Park murder trial: everything we know from the opening day

Here is what happened when the case was opened at Ipswich Crown Court on Monday.

Lockdown - police at St Mary's Car Park

Martin Dines attacked three times within hours

A ROUGH sleeper was killed after being attacked three times by a gang in a row over army credentials, a court heard.

Martin Dines was found dead in the sixth floor stairwell of St Mary’s Car Park in Colchester on a Monday morning in April.

Tests showed he had 73 separate external injuries mainly relating to his face, fractured ribs and a horrific injury to his genitals while an expert concluded he had also suffered a traumatic brain injury.

Heidi Kennedy, 47, Darren Miller, 46, and Mark Hartley, 32, are standing trial for his murder at Ipswich Crown Court where Simon Spence QC, prosecuting said all three had kicked, punched and stamped on him the night before he was found.

Mr Spence said: “Mr Dines was assaulted on three separate occasions by all three defendants and the combination of his injuries led to his death.

“The body was found in a stairwell on the morning on Monday, April 23 by a car park worker who had arrived at about 8am.

“He had been dead for some time and the area of the stairwell around this showed signs of a violent struggle taking place.

“A post mortem [examination] showed a huge number of injuries to his body mainly focused on the head and neck but also significant injuries to his genital area which were all inflicted by blunt force trauma.”

Mr Spence said the first assault had taken place at 8.30pm on Sunday and had continued intermittently until 1.45am the next morning.

“They remained together throughout,” said Mr Spence.

“They were together throughout the course of the evening, throughout the time they were in the car park together and when they left Mr Dines dead or dying in the staircase they returned to Mark Hartley’s flat where they were arrested the following day.”

Mr Spence said CCTV shown to the jury shows Hartley and Miller attacking Mr Dines outside Royal Bank of Scotland in Head Street where he used to beg.

The three are then filmed setting upon him in Crouch Street a few minutes later where Hartley accused Mr Dines of being “a false para”.

The prosecutor said later on Mr Dines went into the car park where he was eventually found dead while the trio went in later. But there is no CCTV of the final hours of his life.

Tests showed Mr Dines had a significant amount of alcohol in his blood at the time of his death - four times the limit to legally drive - but experts have ruled out the possibility of alcohol poisoning as a main cause of death.

Officers arrived at Hartley’s flat to arrest him on the night Mr Dines was found but could hear a female voice coming from the property who said: “Darren, why are you like this? What has caused it? Is it the Army?

“Just remember we all love you.” Backup officers were called for and they forced the door in and arrested the group.

The lounge was found to contain several empty cans of beer and bottles of Bucks Fizz.

Kennedy, of Queen Elizabeth Way, Colchester, Miller, of no fixed address, and Hartley, of New Kiln Road, Colchester, all deny murder.

Miller has admitted to Mr Dines’ manslaughter while Kennedy has admitted an assault on a friend of Mr Dines - Lisa Peck - during the Crouch Street altercation.

The trial, which is expected to last five weeks, continues and will see the jury travel to Colchester town centre today.

CCTV shows first two attacks - but no footage available of final moments

THE final hours of Martin Dines’ life and how the three defendants became involved have been pieced together by the police by trawling through CCTV footage and speaking to witnesses.

Mr Dines – who was a rough sleeper and a heavy drinker – used to beg for money outside the Royal Bank of Scotland, in Head Street, Colchester, and CCTV shows he was sitting there at 8.19pm the night before his body was found.

Nine minutes later – at 8.28pm –Kennedy, Miller and Hartley arrived at the bank’s cash machine and the group of four are seen talking.

But as Kennedy went to the ATM, Miller and Hartley launched the first assault on Mr Dines who was sitting on the floor. The incident lasted roughly three minutes, and Miller and Hartley are seen hugging shortly afterwards.

By 8.34pm, Mr Dines was with friends Karl Hughes and Lisa Peck outside Fresh Look Barbers, in Crouch Street, when the three approached again.

At this stage he had no visible injuries.

All three are then said to have punched and kicked Mr Dines while accusations were made about his Army history.

During the alleged attack, Kennedy shouted: “How dare you lie about him. He fought for his country.”

The assault was seen by several passersby, one of whom bravely stepped in to protect Mr Dines, but none reported he fought back.

After the initial attack had subsided, Mr Dines bought food from a nearby takeaway which Kennedy promptly threw over him and then punched his friend Ms Peck - an assault she had admitted to.

The attack on Mr Dines - which lasted ten minutes - left him bloodied and he returned to his base outside the bank by 8.52pm while the three defendants went to a Premier shop, in Crouch Street, to buy seven cans of lager between them.

They were put in a blue plastic bag being carried by Kennedy.

Seconds before 11pm, Mr Dines arrived at St Mary’s Car Park where he and other rough sleepers often spent the night.

He was seen by an associate called Philip Spicer who is the last person Mr Dines was seen alive by other than the defendants.

At 11.21pm the group arrived at the car park with Kennedy now wearing a camouflage jacket which Miller previously had on.

They then went into the same stairwell Mr Dines had entered. But there is no CCTV available until the three are seen leaving the car park, at 1.45am when Kennedy no longer has the bag while Miller is now wearing a red baseball cap and jacket which were previously worn by Hartley.

The court heard tests on all clothes showed degrees of blood splattering consistent with being in close proximity to an attack.

Search - police at Mark Hartley's flat in New Kiln Road, Colchester

'Last time I got angry, I bit somebody's ear off and fed it to him'

A MURDER suspect told hospital staff he bit off somebody’s ear and fed it to him the last time he got angry after he was arrested.

After Mark Hartley was arrested alongside Heidi Kennedy and Darren Miller at his flat in New Kiln Road, Colchester, he was taken to Broomfield Hospital where he stayed for a number of days before being taken to the police station.

During his stay he told a nurse he was getting agitated and said: “I’m getting angry.

“The last time I got angry I bit someone’s ear off and made them swallow it.” A search of the St Mary’s Car Park stairwell after Mr Dines was found showed there was skin tissue on the floor - which could have been his ear - where he also had a deep cut.

Investigators concluded the blood splatter meant Mr Dines was lying or sitting down when he was attacked.

Police officers guarding Hartley when he made the claims questioned him on the incident and he backtracked saying it had been Miller who had bitten the ear.

Miller, who has already admitted manslaughter, also appeared to make admissions when he was being booked into custody and said: “My life is now over.

“I am a good person, I just made a mistake.

“He was alive when I left him.”

Both Miller and Kennedy declined to answer questions in interviews with police answering no comment to everything.

But Hartley answered points put to him by detectives until he was questioned about a pair of shoes which were seized from his flat after his arrest.