'Are you telling me Graham's dead?' - suspect asked police after he was arrested for allegedly murdering Chesterfield pensioner

Daniel Walsh had been living with Mr Snell for around eight weeks at the time the 71-year-old disappeared after reporting Walsh to police for accessing his bank accounts and stealing money, Derby Crown Court heard on Tuesday, December 1.

The court had previously heard that Walsh bought saws and an incinerator and cut Mr Snell into 10 pieces, following Mr Snell’s visit to Chesterfield Police Station on June 19 last year.

The 30-year-old caught taxis to DIY stores around Chesterfield and purchased saws, an incinerator and industrial-strength plastic sacks, and spent the weekend cutting Mr Snell up at the Marsden Street home they shared, the prosecution say.

He then deposited some of his remains in a communal bin outside the flats complex where his brother lives, and caught another taxi with the rest of Mr Snell’s remains to remote woodland in Chesterfield and stuffed them into a badger set.

In transcripts from Walsh’s numerous police interviews, read by a detective and prosecution counsel Peter Joyce QC, Walsh claimed he had visited Mr Snell at Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital three days prior to his arrest.

In the transcripts from the first of numerous interviews detectives undertook, firstly on Friday, June 28, Walsh said: “He’s in the Hallamshire. He’s been having surgery because he’s had polyps removed. He’s been in quite a few times this year. I saw him three or four days ago.”

Walsh went on to tell officers that around £1,400 found in his bedroom was winnings from the Genting’s Casino in Sheffield, and his earnings from work as a labourer.

When Walsh is told that Mr Snell isn’t at the Hallamshire, Walsh is heard to say: “What, he’s discharged himself? I didn’t realise he wasn’t there.”

He then went on to tell officers that Mr Snell had given his permission to use his bank accounts to buy household items.

There then followed a series of ‘no comment’ interviews between July 1-3, other than two prepared statements, where Walsh again insists Mr Snell is in hospital and says he is becoming concerned for his safety.

In a final interview, and talking about money, Walsh states: “I have been working and saving, putting money aside. If I borrow money then I have to pay it back. It’s never more than £3,000.”

When asked by detectives about the amount of money he claimed Mr Snell would let him borrow, he replied: “It’s not £30,000 or £30,000,000. It’s a lot of money but it’s not a ridiculous amount.”

He was then asked about a range of forensic evidence found at the house, including a mop bucket found in the dustbin with blood on it, and replied: “Are you telling me that Graham’s dead, because the way you are asking these questions it sounds like you are.”

Walsh denies murder.

The trial continues.

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