Dedicated to ANTONIETTA GUARINO

I never thought that I would create a blog, after all what have I to say? My life changed in January 2009 and this is that story. 

This blog is dedicated to the memory of ANTONIETTA GUARINO and serves the purpose to tell you and anybody that you feel should know the story of her murder and all the events that followed. In particular the justice denied to her during the recent trial of the men accused of her murder. People should know what happened, people are entitled to understand the short comings of the system and the cruel double blow that it has dealt my family. Please help me to make as many people aware of this sorry story by asking them to visit this site.

justice-denied@inbox.lv

Impact Statment

This is a copy of the impact statement given and partly read by the Recorder of Bristol Judge Tom Crowther. Marc Riley refused to leave his cell to hear his sentence and therefore did not hear this statement. I hope that in reading this you can start to understand my story.

On the face of it writing an impact statement should be straightforward, I am to express in words the impact of a crime, which has affected my family and me. Then why have I struggled to even start this document?

I think that I understand the importance of this document, to enable professionals and others now or in the future to read and appreciate my perspective. I sincerely hope that what I write now stands the test of time, and has the same devastating impact in the future to those that read it as the memories of 2009 will have on my future and that of my children.

My difficulty in starting this is that I am not sure I can do justice to the enormous effect that this event has had, I can not be sure to find the words to express the depth of sadness I now live with following the planned deeds of two individuals unknown to me and their callous treatment of my mother’s life, taken for what? I hope that by telling you the reader some of my story, you could begin to understand the impact.

My mother was murdered on January the 8th 2009; I don’t know at this moment in time or may never know when her murder was planned. I believe from what I know it was discussed by her murderers while they were in bed together. My mother had taken a lodger some months before, by all accounts she liked him they watched films together, she spoke to him about her family, he even knew about my 11 year old sons illness which had put him in hospital. Mum had spent time with my son, while he received treatment sleeping next to him in hospital. During this time away from her home and against her clear wishes the lodger invited and spent nights together with his boyfriend. Late in 2008 one of mum’s friends lost a daughter to cancer, mum spent time comforting a grieving friend away from home, during this period her lodger again spent nights with his boyfriend, who knows what they planned? What they said? At Christmas and New Year which mum spent with my sisters family and my own, her home was used by these two individuals. I remember the constant calls from her lodger while she was with us, I thought it strange at the time, and I now know they were checking her whereabouts. So exactly when they decided that murder would be the answer to their situation I might never know and this will haunt me forever.

If the extent of the abuse had been this alone I would not be writing now. Shortly after mum returned home and upset their cosy little lives, she paid the ultimate price! Killed and for what? Maybe I will never know this too but it will always haunt me.

What I do know is that mum was murdered while in her own kitchen surrounded by photos on the walls of her family and the people she loved. She was hit on her head up to 12 times with a blunt instrument probably a hammer. I am assured that she probably died quickly but I don’t know for sure, I may never know, her potential suffering in this moment of her death will always torture me. What I do know is that her lifeless body was treated with unbelievable inhuman contempt. She was wrapped in her own bed clothes and her plastic shower curtain, bound with electrical cord from her garden tools, then bundled under cover of darkness into her small car. She was driven through the countryside, finally her killers tramping through farmers fields carried her body to the River Avon were she was indignantly thrown in, lost to the icy waters for over 40 days.

For almost 3 weeks after her murder, the guilty cowards continued to live in my mothers home - having seen her previous habits – they lied to visitors and people that telephoned asking after her. They claimed she was with her family in Surrey or that she was in Italy or that she was staying with an ill friend. Their lies bought them time to clean up the evidence of their crime. At no point up to their arrest, 21 days later, did they demonstrate any humanity toward my mother or her family, on the contrary they lived in her home, drained her bank account of all its funds and even opened online accounts to buy CD’s and DVD’s. They involved there friends in this crime asking for help to dispose of the murder weapon, giving mums car to other friends to dump outside a local scrap car dealers. I can’t and probably never will know how many people knew what these two individuals had done but no one came forward to report what they had heard. These other people choose like vultures to enjoyed the spoils of her death, her personal possessions, mobile phone, jewellery and money all found in residences across Trowbridge.

This squalid story still feels unbelievable to me, my mother was a kind woman full of life and happiness, she loved her children and grand children. Mum spent her working life as a nurse and carer, looking after the ill, and old. When she moved to Wiltshire she worked caring for patients who had mental illness and social problems. Mum was kind and believed in the fundamental goodness of others; I honestly cannot remember her saying nasty or bad things about anybody. She always tried to understand others and see things from their perspective. Mum moved to Trowbridge before either my sister or I was married, she made a life for herself in Wiltshire and had many friends and loved the county and its places of interest. She was happy in Trowbridge, she loved her home it was the depository of her life’s memories full of ornaments that she had collected, the walls covered with photos of her family in England, France and Italy.

Mum travelled to Surrey often to spend time with her grand children; it was so normal for her to arrive and within the hour on her way to the cinema with my son to see a film. On their return mum would spend time with my 4 year old daughter, playing make up and dolls. We ate together cooking food and spending good times. Recently mum discussed a possible return to Surrey; she was still young and wanted to spend more time with her grandchildren. Mum was a very affectionate person with so much love; she would always cuddle and hug her children and grandchildren. She was a lively, friendly and generous person; she was full of character and will always be missed.

Marc Riley and David Carr-Burstow’s actions, subsequent lies and lack of remorse have only served to harden my hatred for them and the things they did. I believe that their lack of morality has and will remain a danger to us all. They choose to murder somebody they knew and who trusted them, she was defenseless and at the mercy of two young adult men who’s twisted view of their own lives and sick ideas extinguished hers, the disgrace of their actions before, during and after her murder has poisoned my own future and that of my children, who have been denied the love of their grandmother.

In the short nine months since her murder I cannot escape the daily reminders that torment me, I regularly feel the emptiness and void that has been left by her unnecessary death and despair at the perverted circumstance she found her self in that night in January.

Some weeks ago my 4 year old daughter stood in the garden holding her drawings of Nonna up to the sky.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Showing Nonna my pictures, she’s in heaven.” the answer.

This is not the only time I have seen her do it.

ITV West 10 O' Clock News of the 1st of October 2009

Why Justice Denied?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Vultures

From an early point in the police's investigation it became clear that Riley and Carr Burstow had many friends in Trowbridge, they mostly shared in common a link. They had met at a charity in the town for homeless young adults, The Amber Foundation. It offered young people a safe place to stay whilst trying to give them the skills to find work so that they could support themselves.

I don't know the full details of how Riley a local man found himself homeless after-all his mother and brother lived only a few miles from Trowbridge in Bradford on Avon. During the case one witness eluded to the fact that he was not welcome at the family home due to his constant fallings out with other family members.

Carr Burstow on the other hand was from Harleston, Norfolk. His father died when he was 6 months old or 2 years (there seemed some disagreement between him and his mother) anyway he lived there until he was seventeen. I don't know why he left Norfolk to move to Wiltshire, but I got the firm impression it was because he too was no longer welcome at home or in the community. He had already been arrested numerous times, something we were to learn about later in the trial. Carr Burstow went to live with his step sister in Wiltshire. Soon she and her husband decided because of overcrowding in their home; they had five children of there own, that he could no longer stay. Carr Burstow moved to the Amber Foundation.

Here the two men met and became homosexual partners, it was also here that they met and became friends with Stephen Gurner, Laura Elvin, Darren Lee Jackson, Jack Isaacs and Daniel Faulkener. A community of drug users who went on to help Riley and Carr Burstow, and this is where my difficulty lays. These individuals probably knew what Riley and Carr Burstow had done and they choose to say nothing.

It's is hard enough to comes to terms with the murder of my mum but it is compounded by the knowledge that during the investigation many people played a part however small in this crime, this was not a crime done in secret, the profits was spread about. A television, jewelry, clocks all found across town, all at the addresses of Riley and Carr Burstow's friends. Meals eaten, drugs bought, alcohol consumed all with the gains from mums murder. Fun together on a games console bought with mum's money, cigarettes and pizzas, good times for all!

Steven Gurner had the biggest role in this, he had the flat at 30 Orchard Court the place Carr Burstow and Riley visited almost on a daily basis and it was he who went out with Carr Burstow on the night of the 8th of January. That night Carr Burstow told Gurner that "They had killed the landlady." and that "Marc had hit her on the head and they had dumped her in the river.” A drug fueled Gurner choose to believe that Carr Burstow was ‘pulling his leg’ and carry on as if nothing had been said for the next three weeks. We are also to believe that he never told his girlfriend Laura Elvin during this time? Elvin who on more that two occasions used my mothers credit card to order pizza, saying she believed Riley's story that the cards with the name Guarino on was Riley's mothers. I don't believe people were ignorant of what had happened at best they buried the heads in the sand and it makes me sick that they did nothing to bring this crime to anybody's attention. I believe that like vultures feeding on the kill of others, they enjoyed the pickings of my mothers death too much to even ask.

Gurner after spending four days in custody finally told the police what he knew, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that in order to secure a conviction he would not be prosecuted for aiding but convinced him that he should give evidence of the night of the 8th of January, the night that Carr Burstow confessed the killing to him. It was in the public interest and for the good of justice that the murderers be convicted not the profiteers. Likewise Jackson and Isaacs who had sold mums Toyota and were convicted of handling stolen goods, again the CPS decided that the charge should be simple 'Handling' and no attempt was made to discover if these two knew of the origin of the Toyota less what they said could endanger the case against Riley and Carr Burstow. It seems to me that all involved escaped punishment or received light sentences in order that the prosecution of Riley and Carr Burstow should not be jeopardised.

You may recall that Carr Burstow bought a red Ford Fiesta, this was the car that he was sat in when arrested on the 27th of January and had been in a police compound ever since. Just before the verdicts were read out on the 1st of October the final vulture swooped down to try and feed, it was Carr Burstow's stepfather who asked one of the policemen at the court if he could have the Fiesta to drive back to Norfolk in as it was in David’s name. What a douchbag! What kind of world do they or should I say we live in?

He was told that the car was evidence and at any-rate the proceeds of a crime not his to do as he pleases.

The 8th of January according to Marc Riley under caution at Melksham Police Station 27th - 30th January 2009

Marc Riley was arrested on suspicion of murder on 27^th of January 2009 at about 14:00 this was 2 days after my sister had called Trowbridge police station and the investigation in to a missing person was set up. He was taken to Melksham police station in Wiltshire and questioned. Over the next 3 days he gave this abbreviated account of what had happened at my mothers house some 20 days previous. 

He had been lodging at my mothers house since October 2008, where he rented the upstairs room for £300 per month. He viewed the room one morning in October and that afternoon with his mothers help, moved in.

He told the police how he had got back together with his boyfriend David Carr Burstow late in 2008 and how he had invited him to stay in his room. I don’t know if he told the police whether my mum knew about his boyfriend staying but it soon became evident to the interviewers that she had made it abundantly clear that under no circumstances was he to have friends staying in his room. He had invited his boyfriend to stay without her knowledge.

On the 3^rd of January mum returned from Surrey after spending Christmas with us, Riley and Carr Burstow were both at her home in Trowbridge when she arrived. They had enjoyed the Christmas and New Year period at her home now mums arrival had disturbed their cosy little lives together. From the moment she arrived Carr Burstow was locked in Riley’s upstairs room unable to use the bathroom, or any other facilities that he had become used to. Riley had become his feeder and guardian protecting him from discovery. Once again I don’t know if he told the police about how his boyfriend got in and out of the house, but it became apparent that when mum was at home and possibly up and about, he climbed in through the window accessing it by climbing up on to the flat garage roof. Riley of course came and went by a more traditional route, the front door.

Five days of cat and mouse went on until some time in the late afternoon of the 8^th of January according to Riley he went downstairs to the garage where his fridge was kept. According to his interview with the police, he was walking from the garage where he had gone to get food through the utility area toward the kitchen, when the lights flickered on and off at which point he saw a shadowy figure in the darkness.  In fear, he reached out grabbed a nearby hammer and lashed out once.

When he realised that he had hit Antonietta and she was dead he panicked and collapsed in distress, at which point he called his boyfriend from the upstairs bedroom. Carr Burstow’s cabin fever had come to an end. Together they wrapped the body and decided to dump her in the river. Marc Riley cannot drive so it was fortunate for him that David Carr Burstow was there to help him! During further questioning Riley went on to describe the exact place and circumstance of their disposal of mums body.

QUESTIONS:

If Riley was trying to minimise the killing, trying to create a story in which mums death was an accident, why did he tell the police where to find her?  He must have known that when they found her body, her injuries would prove his story was false. Mum as you know suffered a sustained attack with a minimum of 12 blunt force impact blows any one of which were described as un-survivable.

Did Riley really know the extent of her injury’s?

Was Riley protecting his lover, taking the fall with his false story?

Riley confessed to killing mum with A BLOW from a hammer. Then who inflicted the other blows?

While in custody Riley wrote more than once to his lover, I don’t know the contents of those letters but they were intercepted by the police and I have been told they make very interesting reading displaying a great deal about the nature of the relationship between these homosexual lovers.  I am not alone in not knowing the contents of these letters they were deemed prejudicial and therefore not uses as evidence at the trial.

The 8th of January according to David Carr Burstow interviewed under caution at Melksham Police Station 27th - 30th January 2009

David Carr Burstow was arrested at about 14:00 on Tuesday the 27th January 2009. He was cautioned while sitting in the red Ford Fiesta that he had bought only 2 days before. At the time he was outside the police station in Trowbridge waiting in the car while Riley had gone inside to offer the police his help in the missing persons enquiry that had been set up. Unknown to both of them Wiltshire police had been busy examining CCTV images which showed the pair withdrawing money on numerous occasions from my mothers account at various cash machines across Trowbridge over the previous 20 days. This was enough evidence to arrest them both on suspicion of murder; a charge that would allow the police the maximum time to interview the suspects, although at this time the enquiry was still a missing persons one.

Carr Burstow was taken to Melksham police station for formal interview. Over the next 96 hours whilst in custody he was interviewed several times, these interviews when transcribed amounted to over 600 pages, this was distilled down to 60 pages to be used in court later. In turn I will try and write a short synopsis of his statements.

Carr Burstow’s statements were peppered with lies from the very start, he admitted to this while under caution and later on at his trial. This together with his constant “I can’t remember ‘cos I have ADHD* and stuff.” and his general non-cooperation made him a very difficult suspect. The basis of his statements were, “I don’t remember,' I didn’t do it,' Marc told me to,' Marc made me do it,' 'I was afraid of Marc.' Marc, Marc, Marc...

At first he told the interviewer that he had been a welcome guest in mum’s house, he described how in the early afternoon of January the 8th he had returned from shopping in Trowbridge to her home. He said that he had gone straight up to his room but had said hello to Antonietta who was in the living room. This, he said, was the extent of his conversation on that occasion. He went on to say that all his previous conversations with mum had been of a simalar superficial nature, all in passing and quick hello's and goodbyes. He said the Riley was also in the house that afternoon but he remained downstairs, Carr Burstow guessed when asked “that he was cleaning or something”. Over the next 3 hours or so he watched music TV upstairs in Riley’s room. At some point later he was called downstairs by Riley, he said that he went down to the kitchen where he saw Antonietta's body on the kitchen floor. There was blood all around and her head was part covered by a cloth, all he could see were her lips, Riley told him to “Fucking help,” he went to get the shower curtain and helped Riley then wrap her body. He claimed that throughout he was feeling sick “it was the smell and that.” and therefore could not remember the precise details of what happened. When asked about the hammer he said “I saw it on the side.” When questioned if he asked Riley why he had done it, his answer was “No” he went on to explain how he and Riley disposed of the body and continued the clean up operation. Although he said that he did not take as active a role in the clean up as the smell disturbed him too much.

During the subsequent interviews is became clear that Carr Burstow was lying about his relationship with my mother, he had never spoken to her on that day in fact he only used the front door when it was late and mum was in bed. Other than that he came and went by the bedroom window, asked why, well Marc told him too. Asked if he was lodging without the landlady consent? Not as far as he knew, Marc has asked her and she said that it was OK as long as they kept the noise down.

His first backtracking lies had begun. Carr Burstow said what seemed right or best for him at the time. He was asked about the injuries to the knuckles on his hand, these were some days old at the time of his arrest. Carr Burstow explained that he and Riley had argued and he had punched a door, the shattered wood had cut the knuckles. This door is immediately outside the bedroom door that Marc Riley was renting, upstairs in Antonietta's home. The argument was over sex toys, Carr Burstow wanted to use them, and Riley would not let him. Asked again about the time immediately after he came downstairs, why did he not call for help when he saw what had happened, well he “didn’t want to get in to any trouble.” and “you don’t grass up friends.” Again asked if he had discussed with Riley why he had killed his landlady he said “No.” not then, not that night and not in the 3 weeks after.

You could reasonably ask yourself why did he not ask? I believe I know the reason: because he knew exactly why she was dead , so why ask?

When next interviewed the police told Carr Burstow that Marc Riley had confessed to the killing. The interview was short Carr Burstow’s answers were all ‘No Comment’

In his next interviews the story of what happened after the murder, the visit to Gurner and Elvin’s flat that night, the disposal of the hammer, the attempted scrapping of the Yaris and well you know the rest.

In Short he claimed that he was upstairs in the bedroom when all of a sudden he was called downstairs to be greeted with his boyfriend who had just bludgeoned to death his 61 year old landlady in her own kitchen, he did not know why and never choose to ask but what he did immediately after probably explains more about his role than the 600 pages of police interviews/lies.

*Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Carr Burstow at the River Avon on the 1st of February 2009

At about 11:30 on Saturday the 31^st of January 2009 both Marc Riley and David Carr Burstow were charged with murder at Chippenham magistrate’s court and they were both remanded in custody.  Later on Monday the 2^nd of February Marc Riley would go to HMP Bristol and in the case of David Carr Burstow the Youth Offending Institute attached to HMP Gloucester, there they remained until the trial at Bristol Crown Court in September 2009.

During the trial at Bristol Crown Court the prosecution called Steve Fulcher as a witness, Steve Fulcher is the Senior Investigating Officer in charge of operation Mews, the investigation into my mother's murder. This request was contested by the defence; I write this because it offers a clear example of how upside down the law can be. It is enshrined in law that a defendant can not be questioned after he/she has been charged. On this basis Carr Burstow’s defence tried to stop Steve Fulcher taking the witness stand and giving what can only be described as very important and insightful evidence.

On Sunday the 1^st of February after both defendants had been charged Steve Fulcher asked David Carr Burstow if he would accompany him to what was know as the deposition site, this is the spot on the River Avon that Marc Riley had claimed that he and Carr Burstow had disposed of my mother body on the night of the 8^th of January. It was in the public interest that the site be confirmed by the second defendant and that Steve Fulcher could get as much information as possible about were mum's body had been put and what she was wearing, how she was wrapped etcetera so that police divers should be successful in the such that was about to begin. The reason for Carr Burstow’s voluntary accompaniment to the river was not disputed by his defence; it was the nature of the conversation between the two that was questioned.

During the walk down to the river bank and at the rivers edge Steve Fulcher asked Carr Burstow questions as to what Antonietta was wearing, how she had been wrapped and other questions that would help the divers, Carr Burstow while describing how she was wrapped with a shower curtain and bound with electrical flex offered the unsolicited comment “When I saw her, she was twitching; I grabbed the shower curtain and wrapped her in it.” Fulcher did not press Carr Burstow on this, that would constitute an interview.

“When I saw her, she was twitching.” well you can understand why his defence would seek to remove this piece of evidence using the cheep excuse that the police are not allowed to interview after charge. The interest of the defence is not the truth, but their client and if that means hiding the truth behind safeguards that exist for other eventualities so be it. Before Steve Fulcher could take the witness stand the whole issue was heard by Judge Tom Crowther QC without the jury present. He agreed with the prosecution that Carr Burstow’s unsolicited comment did not amount to an interview after charge, it had been made during a legitimate trip to confirm the deposition site and the fact that Fulcher had not pressed the defendant on his statement proved it so.

“When I saw her, she was twitching.” was heard by the jury. David Carr Burstow was in the kitchen when my mum lay dead or dying, he was not upstairs and then came down to be met with an already dead landlady. In short David Carr Burstow was at the very heart of this crime before, during and after the events of January the 8^th 2009.

The 8th of January according to David Carr Burstow at Bristol Crown Court.

On the stand questioned by the defence.


When David Carr Burstow took the stand at Bristol Crown Court he was first questioned by Jane Miller his defending QC, the direction of her questioning was to ask Carr Burstow to recount the events of the 8th of January. Throughout the questioning of her client she consistently referred to Marc Riley. Her references were always to lay the blame for what happened firmly at Riley’s feet and to distance her client as much as possible. It was in essence a parade of questions to which the answer were…… 'Marc did it,' 'Marc made me,' 'It was Marc’s idea,' 'I was afraid of Marc.' Jane Miller also spent some time asking Carr Burstow of his past, his behavioral problems and in particular his ADHD and the effect this had on him. David Carr Burstow was described as having the intelligence of a 12 – 13 year old and being in the bottom 5% of the adult population in intelligence.

After Carr Burstow’s own brother had told the court that he had confessed to his involvement in the murder and Stephen Gurner had done the same Jane Miller was forced to examine in-depth the relationship between her client and Riley. It was the defense that needed to try and get across that Carr Burstow was afraid of his boyfriend and to this end made representation to the judge that Riley’s previous record be read out, the prosecution only agreed to this on the basis that Carr Burstow’s own relevant previous convictions were disclosed.

I should say at this point the disclosure of these previous Police cautions and convictions were dealt with prior to Carr Burstow taking the stand and went something like this:

Riley was cautioned by Police twice, both times he had lost his temper when he had perceived Carr Burstow’s actions with another woman as flirtatious and in a jealous fit had on one occasion forcibly pushed an unbroken pint glass into Carr Burstow’s chest, this happened in front of the woman in question and Carr Burstow own brother in a pub while the pair were in Norfolk together. On a second occasion at a fair ground in Wiltshire again in a fit of jealousy Riley had punched Carr Burstow in the face after he believed that he had been flirting with a girl they both knew, Riley subsequently went on to make a public scene by shouting and inviting Carr Burstow to slap him in the face back. On this second occasion it was Carr Burstow himself who reported the incident to the police. On both occasions Riley was cautioned by police. On the other hand David Carr Burstow (who was only 19) had been arrested numerous times and the jury got to hear only of his 4 CONVICTIONS that were relevant to this case. Carr Burstow had been convicted twice of Assault and Battery. Once he was fighting in the streets in Norfolk and then on a different occasion lost his temper and punched a fellow student at Lowestoft College. He was also convicted of Affray and most lately was convicted of carrying an 8 inch bayonet on the street in Wiltshire. He was convicted for all these charges and not simply CAUTIONED.

Clearly his defense team felt that it was necessary to prove that there were grounds for Carr Burstow to be frightened of Marc Riley and that the sacrifice of the jury finding out about his own past convictions was a necessary risk. The fact that Riley had never been convicted previously and that his cautions were due to him being jealous and insecure of their gay relationship and that Carr Burstow own previous arrest and convictions were related to his own violence toward (I don’t know what the other 10+ arrests were for, one can assume they did not involve violence) should give some insight to their characters or at least you would have thought so.

Carr Burstow explained that on January the 8th he was upstairs with Riley and had had an argument with him about whether to go out or not.

He said "I was upstairs with Marc. I said to him, joking around, go and give the landlady a slap."

Jane Miller pressed home the point that he was only joking.

He said when he told Mark Riley to slap the landlady, Riley smirked and smiled and then went downstairs. Carr Burstow described how later on Riley had called him from downstairs and that when he [Carr Burstow] went into the kitchen he found mum dead and wrapped in a shower curtain lying on the kitchen floor, there was a hammer on the side. He then went on to describe the disposal of her body. 


The defense’s questions surrounding the events following the murder were not concerned so much with what happened but with the state of mind of their client and his relationship with Riley. The general impression was Carr Burstow was influenced completely by Riley and lived in constant fear of his boyfriend as to the consequences of his non cooperation in the clean up/cover up. For example Jane Miller QC asked many times who withdrew the money at the cashpoint, who retained the money, who ordered the pizzas and food, who ordered the DVD’s and sex toys, the answered was always Marc. 


For me throughout this line of questioning I remembered very clearly the testimony of Laura Elvin (Stephen Gurner's girlfriend and friend of both Riley and Carr Burstow) some days earlier, she said that

"What ever David wanted, Marc got him."

Carr Burstow said himself said that he ‘spent money like water’ and therefore Marc kept the money, but when he was arrested there was over £400 in cash and my mothers debit card in his jacket pocket.

Ultimately the defense’s questions were designed to portray their client as the simpleton that was not in control of events and who went along with the deception because of fear.

The 8th of January according to David Carr Burstow at Bristol Crown Court.

On the stand questioned by the prosicution

Following the defenses questioning it was the turn of the prosecution to cross examine David Carr Burstow, Martin Meeke QC questioned inconsistencies in Carr Burstow's accounts of the events surrounding the murder. Martin Meeke started by asking Carr Burstow of his living arrangements and why he had been living at mum’s house without permission. Carr Burstow said that he was not aware that he was and that he had permission to be there, Marc had asked and the landlady had said it was okay so long as they kept the noise down.

"As soon as Mrs Guarino went to her family for Christmas you moved in, didn't you?" he said.

Carr Burstow said: "Marc said it was OK."

"Then why didn't you move in before she left?" Mr Meeke asked. (Carr Burstow had no place permanent to sleep even before Christmas.)

"I don't know," said Carr Burstow.

Mr Meeke asked why then, when Mrs Guarino returned on January 3, had he then started to enter the house through the window.

Carr Burstow replied “Marc told him to.”

Martin Meeke QC accused Carr Burstow of persistently lying to the police adding that he knew he wasn’t living with Marc Riley with Mrs Guarino’s permission and that is why he had resorted to sneaking in to the house by climbing onto the garage roof and through the bedroom window, he went on to remind him that he was on oath in court.

What did he do on the January the 8th? Carr Burstow said that he had been in town and returned to watch music TV upstairs in Riley's room. What had happened to his hand? Carr Burstow described an argument he had with Riley and how it was about sex toys. Carr Burstow admitted that he wanted sex and that Riley didn’t and how in anger he had punched the upstairs door then he had gone downstairs to clean the injury to his hand. He was asked about the damage to the downstairs bathroom door and he explained how Riley had been trying to get in to the bathroom speak with him. Evidence showed this door and frame were both cracked consistent with substantial force. When asked if this happened on the 8th of January? Carr Burstow could not remember. Laura Elvin and Stephen Gurner did though; they remember him at their flat later that evening dressing his injured hand.

"I suggest there's nothing very much wrong with your memory Mr Carr Burstow except when it suits you and that you pretend you can't remember," Mr Meeke said.

Prosecutor Martin Meeke QC questioned what he had meant by that comment to his defense barrister Jane Miller QC when he told Riley to "go and give the landlady a slap."

"I only meant it as a joke.” He said as he stood smirking in the dock.

Mr Meeke asked him what was funny. There was no answer.

"What had Mrs Guarino done to deserve a slap?" there was still no answer.

Martin Meeke went on to ask about the further inconsistencies in Carr Burstow’s interviews with the police. He asked Carr Burstow why he said that he was upstairs when Marc called him, and that when he went in to the kitchen Mrs Guarino was laying on the floor wrapped in a shower curtain, then subsequently at the river he told Steve Fulcher that he came in to the kitchen to see her twitching and got the shower curtain himself and wrapped her body. Carr Burstow mumbled that in fact it was he who wrapped the body and it was the usual ‘Marc told him to do it.’

When he came downstairs to see Mrs Guarino in a pool of blood did he ask why or what had Marc Riley done?

"I was shocked. I didn't know what had happened," Carr Burstow said.

"I never asked him that at all."

Why did you not call for an ambulance when you saw her twitching, she was possibly still alive and badly injured? “I didn’t want to get in any trouble.” and “you don’t grass up a mate.” He answered.

In fact David Carr Burstow said that he never asked why Marc Riley had murdered my mother in the eighteen days up to their arrests. Martin Meeke QC suggested it was because he either already knew the answer and it was because he had asked him to kill her, or he had helped him to do it. Carr Burstow denied this.

He was asked about events after the murder, the wrapping of the body, the trip to the river, the return to the house and the initial clean up, which of course Carr Burstow did but only under duress from Marc Riley. He made constant reference to how ill he felt because of “the smell and that.” but Riley told him to “Fucking help clean up.” any detailed questions were met with an “I can’t remember.” or “I was in the hall smoking, I was feeling sick ‘cos of the smell in the kitchen.” Just about any answer except one that could help determine what actually happened.

Martin Meeke asked Carr Burstow why, when he had been sick upon first seeing Mrs Guarino's body as he said in evidence, he then managed to carry the body to her car and across fields to dump it in the river.

He said: "You weren't so upset that you didn't feel like a pint at 11pm? How about by the time you got to MacDonald's? Had you recovered by then?"

Carr Burstow just replied "No."

Mr Meeke questioned whether Carr Burstow really was scared of Riley, as he told the court when questioned by his defense team. He asked why, when on two occasions previously Riley had assaulted Carr Burstow, he had made a statement to the police resulting in Riley’s cautions. You were happy to “Grass him up to the police then.”

“I suggest you weren’t really scared of Riley were you?” Not for the first time Carr Burstow sarcastically answered: “if you like.” to the question.

A challenge to which Martin Meeke replied it’s not me you have to convince it’s the jury.

David Carr Burstow denied telling Stephen Gurner that he and Riley had killed my mother, Gurner had got his testimony wrong and he denied telling his brother that he had got into a fight with a man and hit him over the head with a hammer. Reginald Potter had also got his testimony wrong. Carr Burstow remembered what suited him and forgot everything else, he either answered ‘no that’s not what happened’ or mumbled an almost inaudible reply. He was constantly reminded that he should speak up, but mostly there was a parade of the usual ‘Marc did it’, ‘Marc told me to do it’, ‘I was frightened of Marc’, Marc, Marc, Marc……… but as you know David Carr Burstow went on to enjoy the proceeds of that night, he didn’t leave Riley, together they plotted and planned the clean up, theft and disposal of mums property all while living in her house as if nothing had happened.

In order that I could have some small amount of peace in the nine months leading up to the trial I had created a picture in my mind of what happened that night. I hoped that maybe mum was in her kitchen making a cup of tea and that she was assaulted from behind, one blow and a quick death. As unpleasant as this scenario was it gave me some comfort that mum had died unknowingly and by surprise. I did not fully believe this imagined death and I was aware that it could have been very different; the small comfort I had created was removed when the prosecution finally put to David Carr Burstow their version of events that night in my mothers home.

Riley and Carr Burstow had been together upstairs in Riley’s bedroom, Carr Burstow wanted to go out, cabin fever has set in, he had been locked in this room for some time but climbing out of window in broad daylight was not a good idea. Riley didn’t want to go out and an argument started over something, going out, sex or sex toys. During this argument Carr Burstow lost his temper and rather that hitting Riley he punched the door. His punch was of such force that he punched through the wood that clad the face of the door and the sharp shards cut his hand. He went downstairs and locked himself into the bathroom opposite my mother’s bedroom to clean his wound. Riley tried to gain entry to the bathroom either to apologise or continue fighting; he punched and forced the door until it also broke.

My mother had been in bed that day feeling ill, she had spoken to my wife at 13:30 and her last conversation was with a friend at 13:50. When she was finally recovered from the River Avon she was dressed in day clothes, not bed clothes. On hearing this disturbance outside her own bedroom door she probably got dressed and was confronted by the fighting lovers. Who knows what the atmosphere was at this moment, mum probably told them to leave her house. Carr Burstow told police of his conversation with Riley upstairs and how while packing his bag he told Riley to "go and give the landlady a slap." The prosecution said that he had gone upstairs put his bag on to the bed and started packing because he had been told to by Mrs Guarino.

“No that’s not right.” he said

That you didn’t pack your bag? No, he went on to say that the bag was not on the bed it was on the floor, his comment was almost petulant. He was not packing because he had been given his marching orders but because he had decided to leave his lover. Break up with him.

The prosecution suggested that all this was and inconvenience to him and contrary to his statement "go and give the landlady a slap." He told Riley to “go downstairs and hit the landlady over the head with a hammer.” These are the words that Carr Burstow himself confessed to Stephen Gurner later that evening in the pub car park prior to disposing of the hammer used to kill her.

My mum died in a charged atmosphere, one in which she had discovered that the man who lodged in her home had gone directly against her wishes and moved his lover in to his room and her home. There had been and violent argument between the two of them, one in which her property had been damaged and one that was so intense that the pair did not care if she heard. This argument eventually proved to be the catalysts that led to her own violent death. The details of what happened in her kitchen will never be known to me, there were 3 people in that house on January the 8th 2009, one is now dead, and the other 2 remain tight lipped as to the details. As you know Marc Riley confessed to KILLING mum, he did not confess to MURDERING her. He claimed that he hit her once and then realizing his mistake together with his lover disposed of her body. On the first day of the trial he changed his plea to guilty and thus left Bristol Crown Court without saying or being questioned as to the exact details of that night. All Carr Burstow had to do was say it wasn’t me, I was upstairs when it happened.

The burning question is why did he behave the way he did following the murder? It’s rather convenient to believe he was frightened, led by Riley or believed that you shouldn’t grass up a mate. What he admitted and therefore we know is:

• Carr Burstow was in the kitchen when my mum lay dead or dying, he said he saw her twitching, he was not upstairs but at the very heart of the crime scene when it was committed, he was practically there with one foot in the killing room.

• Carr Burstow retrieved the shower curtain and wrapped the body.

• Carr Burstow retrieved the electrical flex from the garden shed and in doing so spilt mums blood on a small metal stool in the shed, so he had her blood on him.

• Carr Burstow drove the car to the river and in doing so created the circumstances that caused my family and me the enormous additional suffering of a missing body. Twenty eight sleepless nights despairing if her body would ever be found. Together with nightmares of my mother floating in the icy river, all as a direct consequence of his actions.

• Carr Burstow helped carry and dispose of her body in the river.

• Carr Burstow threw the hammer in to the bin at the drive-in McDonalds in Trowbridge but not before stopping in the car park of a pub to confess to his friend Stephen Gurner that: "He [Carr Burstow] and Marc had killed their landlady." 

• Gurner testified: "I remember him saying that he and Marc had had an argument and he was joking around and said to Marc 'go downstairs and hit the landlady over the head with a hammer' and Marc did it." And that "He [Carr Burstow] said to do it if he loved him.” Adding “That is if Marc loved Dave.”

• Carr Burstow ‘ragged’ mums Toyota Yaris damaging it on the night of her murder and it was he who the very next morning called his brother, Reginald Potter in Norfolk, asking if he would be interested in having the car and failing that how to scrap it. It was during this conversation that David Carr Burstow told his brother: “I got in a fight last night with a bloke and I hit him on the head with a hammer and threw him in the river.”

• After failing to find the V5 document in order to dispose of the Toyota , Carr Burstow arranged with Darren Lee Jackson and Jack Isaacs to dump of mum’s car at Shanley’s scrap yard in Trowbridge.

• Carr Burstow enjoyed all the proceeds of this crime together with Riley and right up to the moment of his arrest was even sitting in the red Ford Fiesta and using his mobile phone that they had bought with her money.

Are these the actions of a simpleton that was not in control of events and who went along with the deception because of fear? And of course ‘you don’t grass up your mates’ except when he slaps you in the face at the fairground. What Carr Burstow lacks in intelligence he more that makes up for with slyness and deceitfulness. There are so many other things that David Carr Burstow was responsible for but in the words of his defence council Jane Miller QC “although what my client did was thoroughly wicked he is not a murderer.” The jury took five hour’s to agree.