‘SCREAMS’ were heard by neighbours in the hours before a woman was found dead on the street, a murder trial was told yesterday.
Penelope Brownlie, 45, and 57-year-old Justine Wainwright, also known as Bridget O’Keefe, were arrested a day after 42-year-old Claire Louise Smith’s body was found on Union Street, Barnsley, at about 7am on May 19.
The women, both of Britannia Close, Barnsley, have been appearing at Sheffield Crown Court this week for their trial which is due to end next Friday. Both deny having played any part in a fatal attack, although neighbours told the jury they witnessed the pair become embroiled in an ‘aggressive confrontation’ in the hours before Miss Smith’s body was found near the two streets’ junction. A post-mortem examination revealed that the victim died as a result of injuries from a very severe, physical attack.
Neighbours Joan Dyson and June Tyas said all three women were spotted outside Wainwright’s flat in the victim’s final hours, while CCTV footage from a camera opposite shows both Wainwright and Brownlie carrying a carpet to a bin at about 11.30pm.
Mrs Dyson, who gave evidence yesterday, said: “I heard shouting and a lot of swearing and I recognised their voices from previous arguments. I also heard screams from a voice I didn’t know, which made me feel really uneasy.
“You don’t know at the time anything bad is happening but thinking back it sounded like someone was possessed, a really nasty sort of argument.
“I live opposite Bridget’s flat and having gone out for a walk with my grandson, I walked past their bathroom. It has a frosted window, but there were a few people inside the room and someone appeared to be pinned up against the glass.
“I heard more shouting, screaming and someone asking ‘where did you get it?’ and ‘what have you done with it?’ before me and my grandson left as he was scared.”
Judge Jeremy Richardson threatened to close the courtroom’s public gallery due to disquiet breaking out, leading him to issue a stern warning to those in attendance.
“There must be total silence,” he said. “If this does not happen we must stop and I will impose special measures there will be obedience to the rule.
“I do not want to repeat myself but people in the public gallery have been talking throughout and this is a last warning.”
A CCTV recording, which was then shown in court, revealed the victim’s body on a grassed area near Union Street and Britannia Close at 4.30am.
Brownlie and Wainwright were recorded peering round to see a police cordon at 9.24am on May 19, before police traced them going to Poundland at The Moor, Sheffield, later on in the day before both were arrested on suspicion of murder.
The trial continues.
