A hospital security guard tried to murder a man he met on a gay dating app at an old airfield near York, a court heard.
And this came just weeks after he killed an ex-soldier whose skeletal remains were found in a shallow grave.
Jack Crawley, 20, used the Grindr app to arrange a sex “hook-up” with the man in York which turned into a grisly hammer attack involving “extreme violence”, Carlisle Crown Court was told.
Prosecutor David McLachlan KC said the alleged victim had picked up Crawley in York before driving them to a secluded spot at Acaster Malbis airfield.
He said that Crawley struck the named man to the head and body with a Stanley claw hammer. The man finally managed to escape after wrestling the hammer from Crawley, who had allegedly been smoking cannabis.
Crawley, from Carlisle, was on police bail at the time of the attack after being arrested on suspicion of murdering 56-year-old former military man Paul Taylor, whom he had also met on Grindr, in Cumbria.
Mr Taylor’s skeletal remains were found in secluded woodland near Carlisle in May this year, several months after the alleged murder.
Crawley, of Sheehan Crescent, appeared for trial yesterday (1 October) after denying the murder of Mr Taylor and the attempted murder of the man in York. He also denies an alternative allegation of wounding the man in York with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
At a previous hearing, Crawley admitted unlawfully killing Mr Taylor, or manslaughter, but denies murder. He also admitted possessing an offensive weapon during the incident in York.
Mr McLachlan said that Mr Taylor – who lived with his family in Annan, near Carlisle but just over the Scottish border – had met Crawley on Grindr and arranged to meet him for a sexual hook-up.
“He was last seen alive by his wife on the evening of October 17 last year, at about 9.30pm,” added the prosecuting barrister.
“Shortly after 11pm, Mr Taylor went out in his car across the border into England and he never did come back home. His wife found his night clothes in the kitchen the next morning.”
It’s believed that Mr Taylor was killed in the early hours of 18 October, by which time Crawley had taken possession of Mr Taylor’s car.
In May this year, Crawley told police where they would find Mr Taylor’s body. He directed them to Finglandrigg Wood nature reserve near Carlisle, where the remains were found in a shallow grave.
Mr McLachlan told the jury: “We anticipate that Jack Crawley will say that he was simply trying to rob Paul Taylor’s car and it all went wrong.
“The prosecution says that this was in fact a premeditated killing during which severe violence was meted out on Paul Taylor and his head was completely smashed in.”
Mask, tape and hammer
Crawley was released on conditional bail following his arrest, but he went missing on New Year’s Eve and went on “a tour” of Scotland, journeying from Penrith to Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, before crossing the border again into York on 4 January this year when he went to a local tool shop and bought a hammer.
The following day, he went on Grindr and arranged to hook up with the man in York after sending him a lewd picture of himself.
The man picked up Crawley at an address in Reginald Grove, York, and drove them out to the airfield at Acaster Malbis where they engaged in sexual activity after Crawley allegedly smoked a cannabis joint while concealing a hammer in his waistband.
The man said that as they started to engage in sexual activity, he “felt a blow to the top and left of his head”. He pulled away from Crawley but was then struck in the eye.
Crawley then “struck the man again and again to the left arm” with the hammer.
The man said he finally managed to wrestle the hammer from Crawley who “looked shocked” and ran away.
“Jack Crawley said he was acting in self-defence,” added Mr McLachlan.
“The prosecution do not accept this. The prosecution says that this was a premeditated attempt to kill.”
Following this attack, which the prosecution said was an “almost carbon copy” of what happened to Mr Taylor, Crawley was arrested for a second time in Bath, where he told officers he had “been involved previously in the supply of cannabis and poppers”.
He claimed he had used apps such as Grindr to contact his customers and then deleted the apps “to avoid detection for drug supply”.
An assistant at the tool shop where Crawley bought the hammer said he had also purchased a roll of masking tape and a face mask.
The morning after the attack, a couple in York discovered that some of their clothes and shoes were missing from their home. Crawley later admitted he had burgled their property and stolen the clothes.
The trial continues.