Partner of dog walker tells murder trial of their last phone call

The long-term partner of a woman who was attacked while walking her dog and died in hospital four days later told a court that the last thing she said to him was “drive safe, I love you”.

Lorry driver Richard Jones said he would keep in touch with his partner Anita Rose while he was working away, and that they spoke on the morning of July 24 last year – the day she was found injured.

Prosecutors allege that 56-year-old Roy Barclay, who had been “on the run trying to avoid the police… and avoid being recalled back to prison”, killed Ms Rose.

Barclay, of no fixed address, denies her murder and is on trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

Mother-of-six Ms Rose, 57, was found injured by a cyclist in Brantham, Suffolk, on July 24 last year and died four days later of traumatic head injuries.

Mr Jones said he and Ms Rose shared an English springer dog called Bruce, but she would tell him it was his dog when she walked it.

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton said that in a call at 5.24am on July 24, Ms Rose told Mr Jones: “I’m walking your bloody dog already.”

Mr Jones said he had been working away at Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire when he called her that morning.

Mr Paxton said: “We know the call lasted just over three minutes.

“What can you remember talking about?”

Mr Jones said: “She asked if I was up ready for work, I said I was but I was running late.

“I said I will phone you when I get there.

“She said ‘drive safe, I love you’.

“That’s the last conversation I had with her.”

Mr Paxton asked how Ms Rose had sounded, and Mr Jones replied: “Fine.”

The court heard Mr Jones made a WhatsApp video call to Ms Rose at 6.15am as he was off-loading his lorry at a Tesco site.

Mr Jones said: “It got answered but there was a black screen.”

He said there was “no sound”, and asked by Mr Paxton if he could hear anything he said: “No, nothing.”

Mr Paxton said: “We know the video call was open for a minute – did you say anything?”

Mr Jones replied: “All I said was ‘Anita, Anita’.”

He said he did not hear anything back.

Judge Martyn Levett asked Mr Jones: “Had that ever happened to you before on a call like that?”

He replied: “No, never.”

Mr Jones said he ended the call, and that a number of further calls that he made to Ms Rose went unanswered.

“I thought it was strange for her not to answer her phone,” he said.

“The night before she puts her phone on charge.”

Mr Jones said he had known Ms Rose since he was a teenager, and he is now “coming up to 60”.

He said they had been in a relationship since 2011.

Mr Jones described Ms Rose as “very houseproud” and said she felt “very safe” in Brantham.

The trial continues.