Bradley Wall Leeds murder trial: Co-accused claims fellow defendant strangled Wall with a jumper and stole his bank card

Aiden Ramsdale is on trial for murder after Bradley Wall’s body was found in the front basement area of a property on Fairford Avenue in Beeston on June 23. He had more than 100 injuries consistent with a fall from a second-floor flat and a serious assault.

Leeds Crown Court has heard Mr Wall was either strangled or died from pressure being put on his neck. An attempt was then made to set his body on fire.

Ramsdale, 25, and co-accused Patrick Mason, 31, have both pleaded not guilty to the charge.

During his second day on the stand at Leeds Crown Court, Ramsdale told the jury that Mr Wall had returned to his flat with him and Mason in order to buy diazepam pills from Mason. He said he then saw an argument break out between Mason and Mr Wall.

"It was something along the lines that he did not get the right amount of pills,” said Ramsdale.

He went on to claim Mr Wall threw the first punch at Mason. Ramsdale said, at that point, he attempted to hit Mr Wall but his punches only reached his chest. He said Mason then grabbed “a long piece of wood” and hit Mr Wall in the face with it twice.

"I was trying to calm the situation down,” he said. “But it just seemed to make everything worse.”

He went on to claim Mr Wall had attempted to get out of the flat, but was unable to open the door due to a faulty latch. "The bay window was wide open,” added Ramsdale. “He went to go jump out of the window, and he was just shouting and swearing at us.”

It was at this point Ramsdale claimed he grabbed Mr Wall’s ankles in an attempt to stop him from falling to the ground and being seriously injured, but eventually lost his grip.

"[When he fell], I just had butterflies in my stomach,” he said. “I had a thousand things running through my mind at once – it’s hard to describe.

“[Mason] said ‘don’t panic, I have been in this situation before – I know what to do’. But I was still panicking – I thought [Mr Wall] was dead and there was nothing we could do.”

Ramsdale claimed Mason asked him to get a jumper from the flat. "[Mason] pulled out a heroin needle from his pocket,” Ramsdale added. “He said ‘we need to make it look like he had an overdose, otherwise we are going to jail for a long time’, so he injected him in his leg area.

"He got the jumper and wrapped it round [Mr Wall’s] neck and started choking him. I then heard noises like gurgling.”

He said Mason then took Mr Wall’s jacket and bank card, before suggesting the two needed to burn the body. Despite their attempts, he said they were only able to make smoke.

Ramsdale claimed he then followed Mason to a nearby petrol station, where Mason attempted to buy butane gas with Mr Wall’s bank card, but the payment was declined.

The trial continues.