Chesterfield pensioner murder: Accused posed as 71-year-old to set up telephone banking 'while he was bagged up in the cellar'

Daniel Walsh is on trial for the murder of 71-year-old at the house they were sharing in Marsden Street in the town, after Graham Snell found out he had been straling from his bank account.

Walsh, 30, is alleged to have murdered the pensioner after Mr Snell went to the Halifax branch in Chesterfield on June 19 last year to report the thefts and involve the fraud team.

Giving evidence in his own defence on December 7 at Derby Crown Court, Walsh admitted he was a regular cocaine user and purchased two amounts on the day Mr Snell is believed to have died. He also claimed that Mr Snell was an occasional cocaine user.

It is alleged that Walsh then purchased saws, industrial sacks and a burning bin from DIY stores around the town and dismembered Mr Snell into ten pieces, dumping some in a communal bin at the flats where his brother lives, and the rest in a badgers’ set in remote woodland.

The court was told that CCTV footage of Walsh had been captured at Chesterfield Library shortly before Mr Snell went to the bank and then to the police, where he set up online banking on Mr Snell’s account, and switched it to paperless - setting up an email in Mr Snell’s name and giving his own mobile as the pensioners.

Prosecuting, Peter Joyce QC said: “What were you trying to do? Have unhindered payments from his account to yours? Now you had made the account paperless, without going online would he even know? Did he even know he had an email address?

“He put a stop to all of it, didn’t he? He went down and he stopped the online banking, didn’t he? He went down and he complained to the fraud department, didn’t he?”

Speaking about Walsh later setting up the telephone banking, Mr Joyce said: “The simple answer is that you stole all that money . . . you stole it. In order to steal it you had to find a different way to get into his account from when you set up the online banking.

“When he requested the online banking be stopped, you had to find another way, and you did find another way, otherwise you could not have got all that money. You found a way of getting access to the dead man’s account.”

The court heard that Walsh had posed as Mr Snell when he called the bank and asked for new cards and for voice recognition to be set up. He then gave the bank the account details and passwords, and soon afterwards started transferring cash into his own account.

“You needed people to think that you were him at a time when he was bagged up in the cellar,” Mr Joyce added.

Last week, medical evidence was given which said that traces of cocaine were found in Mr Snell’s remains, but the small amount suggested he had been exposed to the drug, rather than consuming it.

Walsh denied murder.

The trial continues.

Editor’s message: In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Nancy Fielder, editor.