No direct evidence of murder victims

There is no direct evidence that a man accused of murdering a woman for her jewelry killed her, a judge told jurors.

Andrew Hall, 46, denies murdering 50-year-old Glenna Siviter at her home in Middlesbrough in December.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that Ms Siviter had been stabbed 36 times and her body was hidden under a sofa for four days.

In his legal instructions to the jury, Judge Nicholas Lavender said there were 12 pieces of “circumstantial evidence” which the prosecution said proved Mr Hall’s guilt but which the defendant said were unreliable.

Prosecutors allege Ms Siviter was killed at her home in Grimwood Avenue sometime between 03:00 GMT and 13:20 on December 11. Her body was found in her living room by her adult son four days later.

It is alleged that Mr Hall, a childhood friend of Ms Siviter and supposedly like a “brother” to her, killed her in order to steal her jewelry and sell it for drugs.

After he refused to testify at his trial, the judge gave legal instructions to the jury.

Judge Lavender said there was “no direct evidence that Mr Hall killed Ms Siviter”, such as witness statements or camera footage, so the prosecution “relied on circumstantial evidence”.

He said these included:

Surveillance camera footage showed a man, who prosecutors said was Mr Hall, entering her home at around 3am on 11 December and leaving at 1.22pm.
She stopped using her phone after 2:50 a.m. on December 11, and electricity usage in her home over the following days was consistent with unoccupied.
A DNA profile matching Mr Hall’s was found under her fingernails, on the sofa and on Ms Siviter’s left sock, “consistent with him manhandling or manhandling her”.
Mr Hall’s fingerprint was found on Mrs Siviter’s coffee table
Ms Siviter’s passport and other documents were found in a bag bearing traces of his DNA profile in a car used by Mr Hall
Pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton said Ms Siviter’s time of death was closer to the “last time she was seen alive” on December 11 than to when her body was found.
Footprints in her living room may have come from Nike Air Max 2090 sneakers, which an expert said Mr. Hall was wearing on surveillance camera footage from Dec. 11.
Surveillance camera footage could not confirm the statements of several people who said they saw Ms. Siviter in the days following December 11.

A path that leads between a row of houses — Glenna Siviter was murdered in her Grimwood Avenue home in December (Google)

The judge said Mr Hall would respond that there were “too many gaps and unanswered questions” in the prosecution’s argument, including:

Surveillance cameras only covered the back of Ms Siviter’s house and this coverage was “partial”
She had a habit of turning off her cell phone, and the drop in her power consumption did not prove that she was dead.
Mr Hall was a regular visitor to the house and forensic scientists could not say “when or how” DNA matching his was left at the crime scene, adding that he “frequently cuddled and hugged”.
The surveillance cameras did not show that he was carrying the bag containing Ms Siviter’s passport and documents.
Dr. Bolton acknowledged that postmortem changes were an “imperfect way” to determine the time of death and also expressed conflicting opinions
The shoe print expert could not say when the shoe prints in the living room were made, and they only looked “similar” to the sole of a common brand of sneakers.
Several people said they saw Ms Siviter alive after her alleged murder and the lack of video footage did not prove they were “wrong”.

The judge said it was up to the jury to decide “what evidence was reliable” and it was up to the prosecution to make them “sure” of Mr Hall’s guilt.

Mr Hall declined to give evidence and the judge said this was his “perfect right” as it was up to the prosecution to prove their case.

However, the judge said jurors could “conclude that the reason for his silence was that he had no answer to the (prosecution’s) charge or none that would withstand scrutiny.”

“Intent to kill”

In his closing argument to the jury, prosecutor Peter Moulson KC said the motive for the murder appeared to be robbery and that Mrs Siviter knew the suspected killer and that he had to kill her to prevent her from identifying the perpetrators to the police.

He said the 36 stab wounds to the head, neck and body left “no room” for any intent other than “killing.”

He said Mr Hall knew Ms Siviter would “welcome” him whenever he visited and that there were “no signs of forced entry” at her home.

Mr Moulson said there had been “not a single word” from Mr Hall about the allegations and his silence was significant, adding that the evidence required an “explanation” from the accused.

Mr Hall, of Thorntree Avenue, Middlesbrough, also denies the attempted murder of two men in stabbings in the days between Ms Siviter’s death and the discovery of her body.

The process continues.

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