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Witness tells of wheelie bin victim horror
A witness has told a court how he saw an alleged Wigan murder victim being hauled around in a wheelie bin like it was "a wheelbarrow."
Alan Taylor said that when he made a 999 call he thought the police might not believe him "because it sounded so far fetched."
But the bin contained the body of 26-year-old Shaun Fitton and four people are now on trial for his killing.
He told a Liverpool Crown Court jury how earlier he had been awoken by noises and looking out of his bedroom window he saw a wheelie bin lying on its side with its lid open at the junction of Lodge Road and James Street in Atherton.
He saw two men walking away and they then spent five to 10 minutes vigorously scrubbing their arms, legs and torsos while being hosed down near some flats.
About 20 minutes later the taller of the two returned and he thought he was going to pick up the rubbish.
Mr Taylor said: "He was standing over the bin and shouting. I thought he was drunk, I didn't realise there was a body. I thought he was picking up bags of rubbish but he appeared to pick a body up, I saw arms and legs, lifeless and dangling."
He saw the man pick him up from behind in a bear hug. "He put him on top of the bin, which was lying down, and then tried to use it like a wheelbarrow. It was half in and half out the bin. I didn't believe what I was seeing."
Mr Taylor, a father-of-two, said that he told his wife to get the phone so he could call the police.
"I became extremely agitated, especially with people washing their hands before. It was suspicious doing that and with a body I just panicked."
The court heard that he made the 999 call at 3.04am on August 31 last year and told them, "I think someone has been murdered."
The police arrived but after they later left he saw the smaller man he had seen earlier.
"He was really suspicious, shifty looking, looking around everywhere and looking scared," he said.
Cross-examined, he said that the men had not hurried to get away from the area after washing themselves and he had thought they were "just larking about. I thought I had seen them before but I did not see their faces and I didn't know where they lived."
Mr Taylor was giving evidence on the third day of the trial of Rebecca Birt, 22, her boyfriend, Shaun Beatty, 20, both of West Bank Street; Owen Skeat, 23, of Bowling Green Row, and Michael Gerrard, 22, of Rivington Street, all in Atherton.
They all deny murdering Mr Fitton from Westhoughton.
Prosecuting QC Neil Flewitt has alleged that Birt filmed her co-accused attacking Mr Fitton in a "sexually motivated and sadistic killing."
He suffered massive internal injuries when he was subjected to an "horrific" attack with the handle of a mop. Mr Fitton was also stripped naked and covered in white paint before being hauled around in the wheelie bin.
Mr Flewitt alleges that the attack was launched after Mr Fitton made drunken sexual advances towards Birt, a mother-of-one, at her home. Mr Fitton suffered massive internal injuries which, coupled with head injuries sustained in the attack, caused his death.
(Proceeding)
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Weather for Wigan
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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