Alex Rodda death: Man 'murdered schoolboy over sex blackmail'

A man bludgeoned a 15-year-old to death after paying more than £2,000 to stop him reporting their "intimate sexual relationship", a court has heard.

Prosecutor Ian Unsworth QC told Chester Crown Court Matthew Mason had beaten Alex Rodda with a wrench in woods in Ashley, Cheshire, on 12 December 2019.

He said the 19-year-old took Alex there "on the pretence of sexual activity and then murdered him in cold blood".

Mr Mason, of Ash Lane, Ollerton, denies murder.

Mr Unsworth told the court the pair had known each other for some months and had "enjoyed an intimate sexual relationship".

He said weeks before he was killed, Alex had contacted Mr Mason's girlfriend to tell her the then-18-year-old was messaging him "in a flirty way" and had sent him an explicit photo and video.

Mr Mason denied the claim, but began making payments to the 15-year-old's bank account, the jury was told.

Mr Unsworth said Alex had told a friend Mr Mason was paying him for sex and if he stopped the payments, he would report him to the police.

He said Alex's friend had told the schoolboy his actions were "akin to blackmail" and "wrong", but by 23 November, Mr Mason had paid the 15-year-old £2,020.

The court heard messages recovered from Mr Mason showed him complaining the payments were "cleaning him out".

Addressing the jury, Mr Unsworth said for "reasons, you may conclude, borne out of that relationship, the defendant took Alex to a remote wooded area".

"There, [he] used a heavy and long wrench to beat Alex to the head and body over and over again."

He said Alex, a pupil at Holmes Chapel High School, was struck with at least 15 heavy blows in the "brutal" and "merciless" attack and his "partially-clothed abandoned young body was discovered by refuse collectors the next morning".

The trial continues.

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