Lee Morrisey trial sees video of him on top of victim bleeding 'profusely' from her head in Corby alleyway

A court has heard for the first time the full allegations against a man accused of carrying out a horrifying late-night alleyway attack on a Corby woman.

The victim – who we are not identifying – was left with multiple injuries to her face, head and neck following the alleged attack on May 9 this year.

On day one of the trial, jury members viewed police body-worn camera footage that showed Lee Matthew Morrisey on top of the victim, lying on the ground in the pitch-black alleyway between Brookes Grove and Rowlett Road on the town’s East Lloyds estate.

They were told that witnesses had heard a male voice shouting ‘Do you want me to rape you?’

Prosecuting, Ben Gow, outlined the case against Morrisey to a jury sitting at Northampton Crown Court yesterday (Wednesday, November 2).

They were told that the victim had drunk a bottle of wine in a relative’s house and was walking home through the residential area.

Mr Gow said that she had very little memory of the events other than leaving the house feeling a little drunk.

"She recalls being on the ground fighting as hard as she could to get the man off her,” he said.

"To use her words, she would have hit him, and hit him, and hit him.

"She remembers being hit by his fist. She remembers thinking, ‘I’m screwed here.’

"She’s no memory of meeting him or where she met him apart from being in the alleyway. She also says she doesn’t know him.”

CCTV footage showed the pair walking from the same direction at the entrance to the alleyway and entering it simultaneously.

People living in houses near to the alley had heard what sounded like an argument, before noises that sounded like a ‘man beating up a woman.’

They say they also heard a second male voice that disappeared or moved away from the scene.

Two women, who were in a neighbouring garden and are due to appear as witnesses in the trial, said they heard Morrisey say ‘Bring your daughter here and I’ll kick her in the f***ing c****.’

When one neighbour looked out of their upstairs window they saw a man, said to be Morrisey, lying on top of the victim while she was shouting ‘Leave me alone, get off me you f***ing b****rd’

She heard ‘skin on skin’ contact and then the male voice saying ‘Do you want me to rape you?’

A second witness said she heard a woman shouting ‘Help me’ and a male voice shouting ‘Do you know who I am? I’m Lee f***ing Morrisey.’

Mr Gow said: “It sounded to her as if somebody was being hit several times. She also thought she heard a brick being thrown.”

Police were called and arrived very quickly. Body-worn camera footage showed officers walking down the dark alley and coming across Morrisey, lying face down on top of the woman, who was bleeding profusely from her head next to a palisade fence. They pulled her up off the floor and arrested Morrisey.

The jury were shown police photos of the victim, taken after the incident, which showed a large 8cm wound along the top of her scalp, two black eyes, bruising and grazing to both cheeks, a large bruise and grazing to the underside of her chin and neck wounds, which an expert witness told the court were caused by compression. She also had bruising on her shoulders and back.

Wearing a blue button-up shirt, Morrisey – who also uses the alternative spelling of Lee Mathew Morrissey – was supported in court by members of his family.

The 47-year-old denies one charge of Section 20 grievous bodily harm.

Mr Gow said that Morrisey’s barrister will say that the victim’s injuries were caused by self-defence. He said that Morrisey’s version of events is that the woman walked towards him shouting ‘I know you, I know you’ and started attacking him. He also says he did not previously know her.

He tried to defend himself ‘the best he could’ while she tried to ‘gouge his eyes out, punching him and scratching him.’

Morrisey’s defence counsel will tell the court the injuries happened when the pair stumbled over.

But Mr Gow said that his forensic medical expert witness, Professor Jason Payne-James, would tell the court there were five main injury sites, caused by at least moderate force.

He would also say that the neck injuries were consistent with someone having their hands around the victim’s throat, and that the site of the laceration on the top of her head meant that it could not have been caused by someone falling to the ground. He will tell the court that the injury could have been caused by a kick from a foot or a fall into the metal palisade railings of the type seen at the crime scene.

"Even if she started it, this went way beyond simple self-defence,” said Mr Gow.

The court was also shown the tearful victim’s recorded witness statement she made to police in the days following the attack.

The trial, which continues, is expected to last into next week.