A CARLISLE hospital security guard who met a stranger in a secluded area ten miles from York for a “brief sexual encounter” attacked him with a hammer, a jury heard.

Jack Crawley – who was 19 at the time of the violence on January 5 – hit the man on the head, face and arm before the alleged victim disarmed him, a court heard.

On day six of Crawley’s trial at Carlisle Crown Court, the man he is accused of trying to kill gave his account of what happened.

The two men met at a roadside next to an old airfield near to Acaster Malbis, ten miles south of York, on the evening of January 5. Crawley, 20, denies attempting to murder the man and murdering Annan man Paul Taylor several weeks earlier.

Giving his evidence, the alleged victim recalled communicating with Crawley via the gay dating app Grindr on January 5, arranging to meet.

Asked by prosecutor David McLachlan KC what the purpose of their meeting was understood to be, the man said: “It was a quick sexual encounter, basically.” After driving to collect Crawley from an area of York, the defendant mentioned that he planned to travel on to Leeds, the man told the jury.

“He said it was because his dad had found out he was gay and he’d been kicked out of the house,” the man said.

He described pulling over at the side of the road near the old airfield, outside Acaster Malbis.  “It’s the middle of nowhere,” he said. “I knew it was very secluded.”

As they sat in the car, Crawley asked if the man if he minded him smoking some weed and he began rolling a joint. “He seemed very nervous,” said the man. Crawley got out of the car and began smoking for a minute or so.

The man described performing a sex act on Crawley three times at the roadside, the last time after a car drove past them with its lights switched off. As he did this, said the man, he had put his hands around Crawley’s back, and felt something in his waistband. 

Crawley said it was a torch, he said.

Mr McLachlan asked: “Once the car had gone past, what then? What happened between you and Mr Crawley?”

The man replied: “He said carry on what you were doing… that really turns me on.” Asked what happened next, the man said: “I felt a very hard and severe blow on my head. It was obvious it had come from him.

“There was nobody else around at all.” The man said he jumped up very quickly but he was hit three more times, to his face and arm. “Did you see what you were hit with?” asked Mr McLachlan.

The man replied: “It wasn’t till the two hits on my arm that I saw what I was being hit with.” Crawley said nothing as all this happened, he said. “After the fourth blow, I did see the item; it was a hammer.”

The man said Crawley’s mood changed after the car drove past them. After the fourth hammer blow, he said, Crawley’s legs flailed as he tried to kick them from under him.

He then managed to grab the hammer, raising it above and behind his head as he told the defendant: “Come on, if you think you’re hard enough.” It was at this point, said the man, that Crawley ran away.

He threw the hammer in Crawley's direction before getting back into his car, locking the doors, and driving away.

The man drove towards his home but on the way went into a pub, where fellow customers there expressed concern about his injuries, and this prompted him to contact the police.

The man was cross-examined by Toby Hedworth KC, for Crawley. The barrister suggested that during the meeting near Acaster Malbis he had aggressively grabbed Crawley’s collar.

“He pushed you away, didn’t he?” said Mr Hedworth. “No,” said the man. He denied urging Crawley to smoke more weed to calm him down. He also denied offering Crawley drugs from the boot of his car.

“You started to tell him he was wasting your time,” said Mr Hedworth, a suggestion rejected by the man. Mr Hedworth continued: “There was a hammer produced but only after you had come at him with a knife.”

The man said: “Not at all.” Mr Hedworth said the man produced a flick knife - a claim rejected by the man, who said: "No, I didn't."

“You were slashing it in front of him,” said Mr Hedworth. There was no knife, replied the man. Mr Hedworth suggested that the man had pursued and drove at Crawley as he ran away.

He added: “I suggest there was no immediate 999 call and no immediate seeking of medical attention because you, and you knew this, were the instigator of any violence that happened.”

“No I wasn’t,” said the man.

Crawley, of Sheehan Crescent, Carlisle, also denies a second allegation of intentionally attempting to cause the man grievous bodily harm. Crawley’s co-defendant, 20-year-old Marcus Goodfellow, of Greystone Road, Carlisle, denies assisting him by helping to dispose of Paul Taylor’s car.

The trial continues.