Murder trial jury told Sam Field has offered 'no defence' as they retire to consider verdicts
A jury is considering its verdicts in the Samuel Field murder trial.
Members of the jury, have been listening to evidence against Sam Field for nearly three weeks, have now retired to consider verdicts on four counts.
It’s alleged that Field, 40, murdered Martin Glynn in September 2024 in Desborough. He is also standing trial on the alternative counts of manslaughter and grievous bodily harm with, and without, intent.
In his summing-up, prosecutor Adrian Langdale KC said that Field had offered ‘no defence to murder’. Field chose not to give evidence in his own defence, and did not make a closing speech.
"The time for evidence has ended,” he told the jury.
“While he was a big enough man to walk behind Mr Glynn and punch him to the floor.. he refuses to come out from behind the protection of that glass screen and walk to that box (the witness box).
"He’s not a big enough man to do that. Why? It’s not me… it’s you 12.”
He said Field was concerned with giving his account to the jury because he knew they would spot his lies ‘a mile off.’
"He’s failed to give you any account,” said Mr Langdale. “He’s failed to give you any defence to murder.”
He told the jury they were entitled to hold his failure to give evidence against him.
"The choice that he’s made has a number of consequences,” said Mr Langdale.
“Importantly, there’s no evidence or factual challenge to the concept that he brutally assaulted, repeatedly, over many, many hours, that 93-year-old man..”
He told the jury that Field’s previous convictions showed that he has a ‘propensity to uncontrollable bouts of violence.’
Mr Langdale told the court that an actual bodily harm against a little girl in 2007, and a grievous bodily harm against a baby boy in 2008 showed that he knew full well the consequences of assaulting people.
"He knew from bitter experience that if you punch a vulnerable person repeatedly to the head, you are likely to cause them really serious harm,” said Mr Langdale.
"When you are considering that he intended to do you know he not only knew the effect of punching someone to the head.. but he’d previously been convicted of such an attack.”
He also reminded the jury that Field tried to blame the attack on Martin Glynn who he alleged, with ‘no substance’, had sexually touched him when he arrived at his flat in Gold Street on September 19, 2024. Similarly, in 2009, when he was convicted of the two assaults on the children, he had tried to blame one of the baby’s uncles for the incident.
"You know that’s a lie,” Mr Langdale told the jury.
"It’s a wholly fabricated story that he was prepared to tell when his back was against the wall, to police officers in interview..
"Precisely what he said here when he minimises what he’s done.
"How do you know it’s a lie?
"He pleaded guilty.”
Mr Langdale also reminded the jury of the injuries to the baby boy that Field assaulted – injuries to both earlobes and bilateral retinal bleeding compatible with trauma. In contemporaneous interviews with police in 2009, Field alleged they had been caused by the baby falling in his cot or in the bath. In this trial, Field told the police that Martin Glynn had fallen in the shower, causing his extensive injuries.
"The similarities (to Mr Glynn) are extraordinary,” said Mr Langdale.
"He lied to the police, he lied to the hospital, he lied to the court.
“He’s a person who’s willing and experienced at telling lies about what he did.
"He was a ticking timebomb. He was someone who was particularly used to attacking vulnerable people around the head.”
He also reminded the jury that all the medical experts had agreed that the injuries sustained by Mr Glynn during the attack had ‘more than minimally’ contributed to his death.
Samuel Field has dispensed with his barristers, Naeem Mian KC, and James Smith-Wilds, and is representing himself in the trial at Northampton Crown Court.
The only witness called in his defence was neuro-surgeon Howard Brydon, and it was after his appearance in court that Field parted company with his legal team.
In his summing up of the evidence, trial judge The Honourable Mr Justice Stephen Eyre KC told the jury that Mr Brydon had initially disagreed on some points with all the other experts.
"He said he had been affected by dementia, and that the attack hadn’t had a lasting effect, that Martin Glynn had made a full recovery, and that his death wasn’t related to the consequences of the attack,” said Mr Eyre.
"But it turned out that his original assessment was based on incomplete material.
"It was based on a cognitive impairment assessment from April 2024.
"He hadn’t noticed that an assessment six days later showed a perfectly normal cognitive result.”
He told the jury that they could take as long as necessary to reach their verdicts. They were sent out of court at 10.10am this morning (Wednesday, May 6).
Samuel Field, 40, formerly of Gold Street, Desborough, denies murder, and the alternative counts of manslaughter and GBH.
The trial continues.