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Dog walker found unresponsive, murder trial told

Ben Parker
BBC News, Suffolk
Reporting fromIpswich Crown Court
Facebook Close up of Anita Rose, who has blonde hair and blue eyes, smiling at the camera. The top of her beige fluffy fleece can be seenFacebook
Anita Rose died from traumatic head injuries that she is believed to have suffered while walking her dog

A woman who is believed to have been murdered while walking her dog was found unresponsive by ers-by, a court has heard.

Anita Rose, 57, was found seriously injured in her home village of Brantham, Suffolk, on the morning of 24 July.

Rachel Island, who was also walking her dog, said she thought Ms Rose had been attacked as she was found only wearing a bra on her top half.

Roy Barclay, 56, of no fixed address, is on trial at Ipswich Crown Court and denies murder.

BBC/Google A map showing details of an app Anita Rose was using, which charted her movements. '1. 05:01: Seen leaving her home in Brantham. 2. Begins to walk back (retracing earlier route) 3. 06:03 App recording stopped (approx a quarter of way back home) 4. 06:25 Anita found with serious head injuries' (off the route she had walked)'BBC/Google

Giving evidence, Ms Island said she was the second person to arrive at the scene.

She said she did not know Ms Rose but had seen her on dog walks before.

Ms Island said she believed an "attack had happened" as Ms Rose would not normally be out only wearing a bra and it was a cool morning.

She said Ms Rose had "laboured breathing" and patches of blood on her face.

John Fairhall/BBC An aerial view of the track running alongside a railway line and Brantham sewage works. The path runs from the middle of the bottom of the photo to the top leftJohn Fairhall/BBC
Anita Rose was found on this track near the railway line and Brantham sewage works

Jerome Tassel, also giving evidence, told jurors he was on his regular cycle from his home in Hadleigh to Manningtree railway station when he found Ms Rose alone "flat on her back" across a gravel path with blood on the left side of her face.

She was breathing and making "snoring" like sounds but was otherwise unresponsive, he said.

He said her dog Bruce was lying "patiently" next to her and the lead was wrapped twice around her leg

Tracey Lea, who said she had been friends with Ms Rose for more than two years, told jurors the pair regularly walked their dogs together.

Ms Rose liked to go out early as her dog could misbehave and she did not like him to "interfere" with others, Ms Lea described.

She said that she would never go out without her phone.

Prosecutors allege Mr Barclay had taken the device and dumped it to "put the police off the trail"

Suffolk Police Roy Barclay looks directly at the camera in his custody photo. He is wearing a red T-shirt and has a beard. Suffolk Police
Roy Barclay denies murdering Anita Rose

Prosecutors claim that Mr Barclay had been "on the run" trying to avoid being "recalled back to prison", when he killed Ms Rose.

Mr Barclay sat in the court dock, appearing with a shaved head, grey beard and wearing glasses with a grey tracksuit.

The trial continues.

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