Carpet fitter and friend killed disabled man and hid body in rug for days, court hears

Victim had been drinking at pub with defendants before he was stabbed to death, jury told

Daniel Pitham was found stabbed to death at a property in Warwickshire in May 2019 (SWNS)

A carpet fitter and a friend stabbed a disabled man to death before hiding his body in a rug under the stairs for several days, a court has heard.

John Allison and Scott Warner are accused of murdering Daniel Pitham, who lost an arm in a car crash in 2018.

Warwick Crown Court heard police found the body rolled in a rug at the home of Mr Allison, a carpet fitter, on 6 May last year.

Prosecutor Kevin Hegarty said officers went to the property in Bedworth, Warwickshire, following a missing person report.

They found Pitham “lying face-down in the cupboard, wrapped in a piece of carpet which had been tied up with a length of washing line”, Mr Hegarty told the court.

He said police saw “at least one wound to his body, in particular to his chest".

The prosecution said Mr Allison and Mr Warner kept the victim's body in the house while trying to arrange for a vehicle to dispose of it.

Mr Hegarty said: "There can be no other purpose for rolling him up in carpet and tying it round him. He couldn't escape, he was dead."

He said: "One or both of them inflicted wounds on him, and if it was only one of them, the other encouraged the stabber. We say both men had an intent to murder."

The prosecutor said Pitham had been drinking in a pub with the defendants before going to Allison’s house. He claimed it had “kicked off” after Pitham spat on the floor.

Mr Allison and Mr Warner both deny murder.

The trial continues at Warwick Crown Court.

Additional reporting by agencies

UPDATE (04.02.20): A previous version of this article, which was based on agency copy, reported that the jury heard that on the day after the alleged murder, Mr Warner told a friend driving him home from a pub that he had “killed Daniel”. We would like to make clear that at no stage was it heard in court that Mr. Warner had made this statement. We apologise for this error, and have amended the article accordingly.​