THE HOSPITAL catering manager allegedly murdered before he was buried in woodland near Carlisle suffered multiple skull and face fractures, a jury heard.

The trial of 20-year-old Jack Crawley, who was 19 when his alleged victim Paul Taylor (above) died in October 2023, today heard from Home Office pathologist Dr Matt Cieka, who set out his findings.

Mr Taylor's skeletal remains were found next to a picnic site at Finglandrigg Nature Reserve, eleven miles west of Carlisle, in May last year.

The doctor explained that a forensic anthropologist reconstructed the skull of 56-year-old Mr Taylor so that all of the “impact sites” could be clearly identified.

He then took the jury through the ten skull and face fractures. These were illustrated by images of Mr Taylor’s damaged skull and face.

The first two depressed fractures involved areas of bone being “punched inwards” by the impact and those holes “appeared to be curved,” said Dr Cieka.

Jurors were shown an image of a jawbone fracture and another “triangular” shaped fracture to the side of Mr Taylor’s head.

The fifth fracture was to the cheekbone, the sixth to Mr Taylor’s upper right eye socket and the seventh was another depressed skull fracture, which Dr Cieka described as being “crescent shaped.”

The eighth fracture was to the left side of Mr Taylor’s skull at the back, again with bone “punched inwards” while the last two fractures were to the jaw, with the second of these being a “curved impact,” the jury heard.

The jury also heard evidence of other injuries to an upper arm bone and evidence that part of the body had been burned. The court heard that Crawley had submitted a defence statement after he told police where Mr Taylor was buried.

“He admitted being involved in a physical altercation with Mr Taylor and attempting to dispose of his body,” the jury were told. Crawley alleged that during this altercation, Mr Taylor had fallen to the ground, and struck his head.

Dr Cieka concluded that many of the ten impact areas associated with the depressed skull fractures were curved, while others were “more rectangular.”

Under questioning, the doctor said he could see no areas of Mr Taylor’s skull where there were fractures that would be “typically associated with” him having fallen to the ground as suggested by Crawley.

Of the arm injuries, the doctor said: “This trauma may well have been the result of defensive action by the deceased, the victim raising his arms to protect himself from a weapon.”

He added: “Although the remains were in a poor state of preservation, the details in the skull and severe facial fractures are indicative of multiple impacts, at least 10, with a weapon.”

The hammer that was used in Crawley’s alleged attempted murder in York was the type of weapon that could have been used to cause the skull injuries seen on Mr Taylor’s skull, Dr Cieka told the jury.

The curved and triangular shape of the skull fractures were consistent with a hammer’s face and its claw, he suggested.

Crawley, of Sheehan Crescent, Carlisle, (pictured below) has admitted the manslaughter of Mr Taylor, who was last seen at his home in Annan on October 17, 2023, but he denies murder. The prosecutor in Court, David McLachlan KC, has said it was anticipated that Crawley will say Mr Taylor died as a result of a car robbery that "went wrong."

(Image: Web)

Crawley also denies attempting to murder a second man in York and an alternative charge of intentionally causing that man grievous bodily harm with intent.

He says that in the York incident he was acting in self-defence. The prosecution say that what happened in York was an "almost carbon copy" of what happened to Mr Taylor.

Co-defendant, Marcus Goofellow, 20, of Greystone Road, Carlisle, who worked alongside Crawley as a security guard at The Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, denies “assisting an offender” by helping Crawley to dispose of Mr Taylor's car.

The trial continues.