A JURY was given a police escort to a number of locations believed to be crucial to a murder trial yesterday, as the third week of the case began with a trip outside the courtroom.

The panel hearing evidence in the Tyron Charles trial made the journey to Denholme from Bradford Crown Court in convoy, along with a police escort, and was accompanied by the judge, the Honourable Mr Justice Lavender, and barristers.

James Sutcliffe, 29, is on trial accused of murdering Mr Charles, but he claims that it was another man, Adrian Williams, who pulled the trigger and accidentally killed his friend.

A trial at Bradford Crown Court has previously heard that Mr Charles’s body was buried on moors near Oxenhope, with police only discovering its location after secretly bugging conversations in prison in which James Sutcliffe spoke of the crime to his parents – Kevin and Janet Sutcliffe, aged 60 and 62.

The court has been told that in the lead-up to Mr Charles’s death, James Sutcliffe was being pursued for debts linked to an Audi car insured on his business policy.

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The jury had previously heard that after Mr Charles was shot in a shipping container on a smallholding off Foster Park View, Denholme, on September 6 last year, James Sutcliffe agreed to hide the body, but said he did so acting “in fear” of Mr Williams.

It is believed the jury visited key locations yesterday, including the moorland and The Royal pub, in Denholme, which Mr Williams was in charge of.

After the case resumed inside court, the jury heard a raft of agreed facts about the case.

They heard that both Mr Charles and Mr Williams were known drug dealers who sold drugs from an address in Denholme.

Mr Charles, according to the agreed facts, was known to police as someone who had dealt drugs for three years alongside his “business partner” Mr Williams, and Mr Charles, a father-of-three, regularly drove under the influence of drugs.

Sutcliffe denies a charge of murder, and along with his parents, all three defendants, of Hill Crest Road, Denholme, deny a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.