Man's killer may be 'homophobic'

Mr Green's dismembered remains had been 'wrapped in carpet.'

The killing of a college lecturer may have been motivated by a "homophobic attitude", a jury has heard.

Birmingham Crown Court was told Robert Scobie McMahon smashed Mark Green's skull with a gas canister at his flat in Highgate, Birmingham.

Mr Green's dismembered remains were found buried in Mr McMahon's brother's garden in Winchester Street on 7 June 2002.

Robert McMahon denies murdering Mr Green.

James McMahon, 21, formerly of Winchester Street, Hillfields, Coventry, denies a single count of impeding the apprehension or prosecution of an offender by helping to dispose of Mr Green's body.

There is a pretty strong inference that the killing was motivated in some respects by a homophobic attitude on the part of the killer. Timothy Raggatt, prosecuting

Timothy Raggatt QC, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Green's dismembered remains had been wrapped in carpet.

"In dismembering the body, Robert McMahon cut the head off, and both legs and then wrapped the now four pieces... in carpet and other material from the flat."

Robert McMahon then contacted his younger brother and persuaded him to come to the flat, where he sought his assistance in moving the body parts to Coventry, the prosecutor said.

Mr Raggatt told the jury that Mr Green, from Stechford, in Birmingham, was battered to death with a 20-lb Calor gas canister.

"His (Mr Green's) skull was shattered by what must have been a series of blows and, you may think, pretty savage blows which caused his skull to fracture into 20 separate pieces.

"The crime, you may come to think, has more than one sinister side to it - a desire to kill someone may well be part of it and also, unhappily, that there is a pretty strong inference that the killing was motivated in some respects by a homophobic attitude on the part of the killer."

The murder is alleged to have taken place between 2300 GMT on 17 January, 2002 and the afternoon of the following day.