Murder jury urged to be detached

Glenn Rycroft says he and Gareth MacDonald planned to marry

The defence lawyer of a convicted con man has told a murder trial that his client being a "thoroughly conniving individual" did not mean he was guilty.

Glenn Rycroft, 33, denies murdering Gareth MacDonald, 30, from Prestatyn, Denbighshire, in a Travelodge hotel near London on 14 September 2007.

Mr Rycroft, from Flintshire, is accused of hitting Mr MacDonald on the head with a fire extinguisher.

The jury at the Old Bailey, London, were urged to be "detached".

Graham Patterson, defending, said the jury may decide he was "not nice" but urged their thinking to be "detached".

The prosecution claims Mr Rycroft murdered the married father-of-three by hitting him over the head with a fire extinguisher in their hotel room.

It is claimed he killed his lover when he started questioning his past.

The fact that someone is capable of telling an elaborate series of lies is very different from demonstrating that they are a merciless killer Graham Patterson, defending

The jury has heard Mr Rycroft was jailed for four years after he swindled relatives with an investment scam then took more money from them by pretending he had terminal cancer.

The court has heard the defendant and Mr MacDonald travelled to London in September 2007 so Mr Rycroft could repay £6,000 to relatives who had fallen for one of his scams.

They were staying at the M4 Heston Services.

'Vengeance'

Mr Rycroft has told the court how he was asked to leave the hotel room by his partner, who he said had arranged to meet a male prostitute, but on his return he found Mr MacDonald's body.

He told the court he later discovered £6,000, a wallet, and his partner's watch were missing.

Mr Patterson said Mr MacDonald's murder was "a shocking and needless taking of a life".

He said: "You cannot help but notice that his parents have stoically sat here throughout this trial. How grievous their loss. It would be inhuman not to sympathise with them.

"It would be understandable to seek, if only on their behalf, some sort of vengeance against the person said to have taken that life.

"But your task is to be coldly detached. Emotion and prejudice are the enemies of justice."

Mr Patterson said the jury may conclude Mr Rycroft "is not a nice person".

But he added: "The fact that someone is capable of telling an elaborate series of lies is very different from demonstrating that they are a merciless killer.

'Internet'

"In its starkest form, we readily concede that Glenn Rycroft could have killed Gareth MacDonald.

"Add to the fact that the prosecution are able to prove Glenn Rycroft is a thoroughly conniving individual, and Bob's your uncle. But not so fast.

"Even if Glenn Rycroft has demonstrated an ability not to have been a good person that could never justify him being convicted of a crime he had not or many not have committed."

The trial has heard that in 2006 Mr MacDonald, a former pub landlord, had left his family to live with Mr Rycroft after meeting him over the internet.

It is claimed he started begun questioning Mr Rycroft's past after confiding to his estranged wife that his account had been drained of cash by someone.

The trial continues.