Blackmail alleged at gay teen murder trial
The jury at the Scottish trial of Craig Roy, accused of killing gay teenager, Jack Frew, has heard claims that the defendant was being blackmailed by the schoolboy and that the two had slept together.
The defence counsel for the 19-year old said there is no question that he stabbed Jack Frew, but Mr Roy has denied murdering him.
In a police statement, Mr Roy’s sister Robyn said her brother admitted to her he had “slit Jack’s throat.”
The statement also said: “I asked him why he done it and he said ‘He’s being blackmailing me. It was only meant to be a threat.’
“He said Jack had been pestering and annoying him for over a year.
“He said he had slept with Jack once and that Jack kept asking for sex ever since and was blackmailing him.”.
The BBC reports that when asked about this statement in court, Ms Roy retracted part of it, saying her brother later denied he had slept with Jack Frew.
On cross-examination, Ms Roy said her brother “didn’t know what he was saying and was pretty hysterical” during the telephone conversation after the alleged incident.
A friend of Frew’s, Calum Chisholm, told the court that he and Jack were in contact by SMS just before the alleged incident took place.
Mr Chisholm, 19, had formerly been in a relationship with Jack Frew for around a year.
He said he received a text message from him on the day of his death saying: “Ha, ha! Well Craig Roy wants to meet me later. Threesome?”, followed by one reading: “Meeting behind the church the now if you want to join.”
PC Neil Clark said when Craig Roy was having a cut on his hand treated at hospital after the death was discovered, he told the police officer: “He was bribing me for sexual pleasures, but I know that’s no excuse for what I’ve done.”
The mother of the defendant, Fern Roy, 46, said her son was acting normally that afternoon.
But later, Christoher Hannah, 20, her son’s boyfriend, called her saying her son had hurt someone.
Mrs Roy said her son had had never had behavioural problems, and that she had not noticed any strange behaviour in the months leading up to the incident.
Mr Roy had come out at 14. His mother told the court: “He just came out and said he was gay. I was a bit surprised because he liked girls, but it didn’t bother me.”
Chris Hannah, 20, and a student at Glasgow Caledonian University, was the first person to arrive at the scene, after being called by Mr Roy, and called the emergency services.
Mr Hannah described Mr Frew as flirtatious and claimed that he had sent him flirty texts and emails, after saying that they all used to meet at a skate park in the area.
When asked about the contact between Mr Roy and Mr Frew before the incident, he said: “I did not particularly like that. I sent him an angry text message to leave Craig alone.”
The court was played the 999 call made by Mr Hannah, where he is heard sobbing and referring to Mr Frew: “Someone’s murdered him. His throat’s slit.”
When asked if he knew who slit Mr Frew’s throat, he said: “My boyfriend did it.”
Mr Hannah said he had not been welcomed by Mr Roy’s family. He claimed that Mr Roy’s mother thought he “made her son gay with [his] mind control”.
Earlier in the trial, a juror at the trial was discharged, after it transpired that he knew one of the witnesses.
The jury is made up of 14 people – 9 women and and 5 men, and the trial is before Lord Doherty.
The case continues.
