Jury shown poignant footage of Kettering man filling his car at Sainsbury's hours before he was killed in his own home
CCTV footage of a man who was found dead in a Kettering flat has been played in court on day two of a murder trial.
Video of grandfather John Boyle going about his business on the day he died – filling up his car, popping to the shop and visiting his daughter for Sunday lunch – has been shown to a jury.
The murder trial also saw footage of the alleged murderer John Mills walking around Kettering in a hi-vis jacket before he is said to have carried out the attack.
And video of Jordan White, who is accused of stealing thousands from Mr Boyle after his bank card was taken from his home on several occasions, was also shown in court.
Mills, 46, is standing trial accused of murder, theft and burglary. He denies the charges against him.
The court has already heard how he allegedly befriended Mr Boyle, 71, with the intention of stealing money from him to impress two women including his girlfriend, White.
He is accused of beating him to death with a weapon while he slept in his ground floor flat at Leatherland Court in Kettering. And it’s said he then went on a spree with Mr Boyle’s bank card, spending £3,500 within a week.
During proceedings in court 5 at Northampton Crown Court yesterday (Wednesday, October 4) Northants Police digital media investigator Gary Dale took the jury through CCTV he gathered after Mr Boyle’s body was found on November 8 last year.
The jury was shown footage from Ring doorbells, private CCTV and council cameras placed around the town which were able to trace the movements of the victim and the defendants.
Jordan White
On the afternoon Saturday, October 25, last year, the day before Mr Boyle was killed, his girlfriend Jordan White was seen leaving her home in Victoria Street,and walking towards an alleyway leading to Leatherland Court, where the victim lived.
Five minutes later, the jury saw her walk back out of the alleyway, across School Lane and into the car park, before going through another alley into Montagu Street.
Footage showed her withdrawing £250 in cash, using Mr Boyle’s bank card, from an ATM. She then retraced her steps back to Leatherland Court.
Then, at ten minutes after midnight as the clock ticked into October 26, she repeated an almost identical journey, again taking £250 from John Boyle’s account.
John Boyle
The court was then shown CCTV of John Boyle filling up his Blue Vauxhall Astra car with petrol at the Sainsbury’s petrol station at 9.07am on Sunday, October 26. He used his bank card to pay to £50.01 cost.
Later in the day he was seen on camera driving to Raunds and going into a convenience store. At 3.16pm he arrived at his daughter’s house, captured on her Ring doorbell.
He left at 5.56pm to drive back home to Kettering, arriving home at 6.20pm. This was the last time he was seen alive in public.
John Mills
Meanwhile, at 10.30am earlier that same day, accused John Mills was seen on camera getting a taxi from the London Road Co-op to Poundland. Wearing a hi-vis vest, black clothing and a face mask, he spent 43 minutes in the store, paying £54.50 in cash.
At around 6pm, he was seen on various local cameras walking in the street wearing the same clothing and carrying an umbrella. He was on his phone.
At 8.24pm, four minutes after Mr Boyle had arrived home, Mills was seen walking into Leatherland Court.
At about 10.30pm that evening, both Mills and White were seen on camera in roads close by.
Then, the following morning, at 6.44am, Mills was spotted driving Mr Boyle’s Vauxhall Astra along Carrington Street, eventually parking up three minutes later in Central Avenue.
The charges
Mills denies Mr Boyle’s murder, the theft of Mr Boyle’s car, and a separate burglary on November 8 at another address in Kettering.
He has already pleaded guilty to four further charges. He admitted taking Mr Boyle’s Vauxhall Astra without consent; conspiracy to steal from Mr Boyle; and two counts of fraud involving the use of a bank card belonging to an elderly female victim. Mills admitted using her card at a shop in Avondale Road and at Sainsbury’s petrol station on November 8 last year, days after the alleged murder.
The second defendant, Jordan White, 28, of Victoria Street, Kettering, previously admitted conspiracy – with Mills – to steal from Mr Boyle between October 24 and November 9. She is not on trial for murder and will be sentenced for the conspiracy at the conclusion of these proceedings.
The trial continues.