Murder suspect told step-mother '˜someone died at farm'

Sharon Edwards said she told her step-son Daniel Edwards, who is on trial accused of murdering Fiona Southwell, 59, not to talk like that - but he “just made a face.”

A jury at Hull Crown Court heard they had a conversation at the family home in King Street, Hornsea, on Saturday July 16. They were all in bed when police came to arrest him that night.

Miss Southwell had been found lying in a pool of blood at Grange Farm, near Hornsea, the previous day. She had been stabbed 19 times in a “vicious” attack.

The Crown claims Mr Edwards, 22, “harboured resentment” after losing his job looking after Pamela Newton’s horses at Grange Farm to Miss Southwell, and this may have provided a motive for the killing.

Mrs Edwards told the jury: “He said that there’d been someone who died up at the farm, so I said: ‘What do you mean? Did they get kicked by a horse or have they had a heart attack? He said he didn’t know.” She added: “He said it was the girl helping Pamela called Fiona. It was the first time I’d heard Fiona’s name.” She said Mr Edwards “said he might get his job back with Pam. I said: ‘Don’t talk like that about a woman who has lost her life’. He just made a face.” “What kind of face?” asked prosecutor David Gordon. “Not bothered,” she replied.

Mrs Edwards said they called him “Daniel Dog” - because he was “nonchalant” - a bit like their pet greyhound cross whippet.

The case continues.