Murder charge after cook attacked

A 22-year-old man found guilty four years ago of beating up a former fishing trawler cook from Suffolk has gone on trial accused of his murder.

Daniel Gorman was convicted of the attack, which left Edward Nelson in a vegetative state, jurors at Ipswich Crown Court heard.

But when Mr Nelson, from Lowestoft, subsequently died of pneumonia in 2006, Mr Gorman was also charged with murder.

Mr Gorman, of Longfield Road, Harpenden in Hertfordshire, denies murder.

Karim Khalil, QC, prosecuting, told jurors how Mr Nelson was attacked in his flat in London Road, Lowestoft, by the defendant and another man on 28 September 2003.

Handed himself in

Mr Nelson, who was aged 57 at the time, suffered "very serious head injuries" from a series of punches and kicks which left him in a persistent vegetative state, the court heard.

His life expectancy was estimated by doctors as between two to five years. He died on 6 June, 2006, almost three years after the attack.

Mr Gorman, who was subsequently convicted of grievous bodily harm, handed himself into St Albans Police Station a month after the attack.

When Mr Gorman was told he was being arrested, he is alleged to have said "I know what you are talking about, it's that nonce isn't it?"

He then told police "If it is that nonce in Lowestoft you want me for, he deserved it", the court heard.

Mr Khalil told the jury the suggestion that Mr Nelson had been a nonce - slang for a sex offender - was completely without foundation.

The trial continues.