Man accused of 'chopping up pensioner into 10 pieces before burying head and arms' went for massages in Sheffield

In the opening address to the jury in the trial of Daniel Walsh - accused of killing and dismembering 71-year old Graham Snell - Crown prosecutor Peter Joyce QC told Derby Crown Court on Tuesday, March 10, that the murder took place shortly after Mr Snell had visited Chesterfield Police Station to make a complaint about Walsh.

Mr Snell went to the police station on June 19 last year, saying: “I am having problems with a man who comes and stays at my house without being invited. I have just found out that he has been taking money out of my Halifax online account. His name is Daniel James Walsh, please can I see an officer?”

Police attended Mr Snell’s home at 32 Marsden Street, Chesterfield, the following day but he didn’t answer the door or his mobile phone when officers called him, said Mr Joyce.

The relationship between the two has not yet been revealed, but the court was told that Walsh, 30, had previously convictions for fraudulently taking £5,000 pounds from Mr Snell’s bank account in 2009, and for assault after he punched him twice in the face in 2016.

In the days following the death, Walsh, 30, accessed Mr Snell’s bank account and spent “considerable sums of money” travelling to Sheffield for massages and buying clothing in Meadowhall, but also replenishing his own account after buying products to help him dispose of Mr Snell’s remains.

On the night following the alleged murder, Walsh went out on the town in Chesterfield, and later travelled to Birmingham to try and get an emergency passport, Mr Joyce said.

He also spent substantial sums of money in casinos in Sheffield and in amusement arcades in Matlock Bath.

But from June 27 onwards, Walsh devoted a lot of his time to disposing of Mt Snell’s remains, said Mr Joyce.

Following the alleged murder, Walsh had travelled to various DIY retailers in Chesterfield, buying saws, a heavy duty bin and dags and even an incinerator to dispose of Mr Smell’s remains, he said.

He had then chopped the pensioner into 10 pieces, dumped the three parts of his torso in a communal flats complex where his brother lived, concealed other parts on a badger sett in woodland and buried his arms and head - which were not found until late February, nearby.

When police finally discovered the woodland location - which Walsh had accessed through the garden of a woman he had been doing gardening work for - they also found sheets with Mr Snell’s blood on them and a stick which they think was used to force the remains further into the sett, the court heard.

On one occasion Walsh had called a taxi and placed a bin in the back containing parts of Mr Snell’s torso, and when the driver had complained about the smell, Walsh had told him that he worked as a gardener and the smell was compost he was using on a job, said Mr Joyce.

He told the court: "If Graham Snell had died naturally and not at the hands of Daniel Walsh, why would he cut him up and go to such lengths to hide the various body parts? The truth is obvious. He was murdered by Daniel Walsh, he killed him and he cut him up and he bagged him up, sought a passport, got full access to his bank accounts and went on a spending spree. He killed him for money"

Walsh denies murder and the case, which is expected to last for between three and four weeks, continues.