A FORMER Carlisle hospital worker who denies helping an alleged murderer regarded his co-defendant as “a fantasist, an oddball, and a liar,” a jury heard.

Marcus Goodfellow, 20, told the city’s crown court he was not involved in organised crime and he knew nothing about the death of Paul Taylor, the man his co-defendant Jack Crawley has admitted killing on October 18 last year.

That was the day before before the defendants travelled in Mr Taylor's Vauxhall Corsa to Langawthby, the court heard. 

The prosecution case is Goodfellow helped Crawley, 20, to dispose of the  victim's car, despite knowing he had committed a serious offence. Goodfellow denies the allegation.

Crawley admits the manslaughter of Mr Taylor, 56, but he denies murder. He has also pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder a man in York, claiming he used a hammer against the man in self defence.

Crawley worked alongside Goodfellow as a security guard, at local nightspots and at the city's Cumberland Infirmary. 

In his testimony, Crawley said he was being “controlled” by a London mafia gang, and forced to commit crimes. He intended to rob Mr Taylor, not kill him but he was fatally injured during an altercation when the robbery "went wrong," he said. 

Goodfellow was charged after police gathered evidence of how he had travelled to Langwathby with Crawley in the Corsa (pictured) on October 19 last year, the day after Mr Taylor died.

(Image: Cumbria Police photo)

Goodfellow said he knew nothing about Mr Taylor when he travelled with his co-defendant in the car, intending to go to Appleby at Crawley's insistence.

He believed Crawley planned to have the car sold but after the crash in Langwathby he began to suspect his co-defendant did not own the car, he said.

Goodfellow said that his suspicions about the car were further raised on October 31 when he saw a poster with a picture of the same Vauxhall Corsa at the Infirmary, appealing for information about Mr Taylor because he was missing.

As he concluded his questioning, the defendant’s barrister Peter Byrne told Goodfellow: “You have heard about an organised crime gang, seemingly London based, involved in drug running and the taxing [theft from] other criminals, operating in various areas but particularly in Carlisle.

“Do you know anything about that?”

“No,” replied Goodfellow. Nor was he involved in anything like that. The barrister continued: “It was suggested that the gang was nonsense. Do you agree with that?”

Goodfellow said he did.

“It was suggested,” continued Mr Byrne, “that Mr Crawley is a compulsive liar, making evidence up as he went along. Do you agree with that?”

“Yes, I do,” said Goodfellow.

Following that exchange, for more than two hours, Goodfellow was questioned by prosecuting barrister William Beardmore.

The barrister began by pointing out that Crawley had “implicated” Goodfellow in criminality, suggesting that like him he worked for a London based organised crime group called CGM.

The defendant had earlier said he had not involvement in this.

He accepted that Crawley, whom he described as a colleague rather than a friend, appeared comfortable talking to him. Mr Beardmore asked if Crawley talked about his “criminality.”

“He talked to me about his fantasies, yes,” said the defendant.

Goodfellow agreed that Crawley talked of “the sordid details” of his sex life, about armed robberies, setting fire to people, and his web searches “for paedophiles he wanted to hurt.”

“Would it be fair to say that, because of that, you did not regard him as ideal friend material?” Goodfellow said that was right. Nor did his girlfriend like Crawley, said the defendant.

“You didn’t want to impress him, or have any allegiance with him?” “No,” said Goodfellow. So why on October 19, asked Mr Beardmore, had he gone to Langwathby with Crawley rather than home after his nightshift?

In earlier evidence, Goodfellow said he agreed to go along for the trip and to share a joint with Crawley and his friend in Appleby.

Mr Beardmore said: “You are with a man you regard as an oddball, a fantasist, a liar.” Goodfellow said: “Yes.” He accepted suspecting the Corsa was stolen and Crawley had bought petrol to burn it.

But Goodfellow rejected the suggestion that he was the type of person willing to help a person get away with a crime.

Goodfellow, who has no criminal history, said he had no knowledge of any link between the then missing Mr Taylor and the Vauxhall Corsa when he travelled in it.

After he saw the missing poster, he made a connection between Mr Taylor and Crawley because of the car, having recognised it. “You had information which could have assisted in where Mr Taylor could have been,” said the barrister.

“You could link Jack Crawley to him going missing.”

Goodfellow accepted both points but, when asked why he did not contact the police, he said: “I’ve been in fear of the police since I was a young boy.”

When questioned about Crawley’s alleged comments in the Corsa on the way to Langwathy, about a man dying, Goodfellow said: “He always talks in riddles.”

Mr Beardmore suggested the defendant, when he said he could not recall any reference to the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in the car, was “seeking to edit the truth”.

“No,” replied Goodfellow. The defendant accepted deleting videos he had made of Crawley during the car trip at Crawley's request, but this was not an attempt to protect his co-defendant, or himself, he said.  

The barrister continued: “The reason you sent messages about prison [to his girlfriend] was because you knew it was a real possibility, given what you have involved yourself in."

“No,” replied Goodfellow, saying the message was about a "meme," or short video, though there was "a bit of truth in it"; he has just been in a car crash, he said.

Toby Hedworth KC, for Crawley, told Goodfellow he was not suggesting that he knew anything about Mr Taylor being killed by Jack Crawley.

“I am not suggesting you knew anything about that at all,” he said. “But you knew a great deal more about why the car was being taken to Appleby via Langwathby,” suggested Mr Hedworth.

“No, I didn’t,” responded Goodfellow. He denied knowing that Crawley was planning a job in Darlington for a drug dealing gang.

Goodfellow agreed that he had played the video game Grand Theft Auto, but never with Crawley. The game involved advancing through a crime group, with players taking on criminal missions for their crime bosses.

He said he knew nothing about Crawley’s claim that their text messages mentioning the game were part of a code they used to discuss criminal missions.

In earlier evidence, Goodfellow, of Greystone Road, Carlisle, said he is now employed in groundworks. He is on bail while Crawley, of Sheehan Crescent, Carlisle, has been remanded in custody throughout the trial.

The barristers in the case are due to give their closing speeches on Monday.