Accused soldier tells Shropshire barracks murder trial how he found body

Taking to the stand at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday, Lance Corporal Richard Farrell, 23, who is accused of murdering Corporal Geoffrey McNeill on March 8, at Clive Barracks, in Tern Hill, gave his evidence to the jury.

In the weeks leading up to March 7 Farrell said he had been training to be a full Corporal and was due to take part in his final exercise on Sunday, March 9. He said he had gone out for a drink as a "celebration" for nearly finishing the course.

He said he had drunk at least a litre of amaretto liqueur in his room before heading into Market Drayton with colleagues on March 7.

Defending Stephen Linehan QC asked Farrell whether he had a memory of the night in terms of which pub he had gone to or how much he had drunk. "Not at all," he said

Farrell said he had a "black" until he woke up the next morning in the barracks guardroom where he said he was "embarrassed" to be in that drunken state.

After speaking to his girlfriend, having a shower and washing his clothes he said he then started to remember seeing Cpl McNeill and another soldier, who cannot be named for legal reasons – and, after noticing the cut on his lip, assumed he had been punched.

He set about trying to find Cpl McNeill and eventually found his door.

"He was on the floor. He was underneath the bed to about his shoulders," said Farrell.

"This is going to sound stupid, but I laughed as I thought he was asleep on the floor.

"I saw his face was blue and thought straight away, right I've got to do something."

Farrell said he pulled Cpl McNeill from under the bed and started CPR, including breaths and chest compressions. He also said he cleared some spaghetti hoops from his mouth.

"The next thing is I opened his eye and pricked his eye, then I grabbed his testicles," he said.

He said he was 60 per cent sure he was told to prick the eye and 90 per cent sure he had been trained to grab the testicles during his Army training.

"I wouldn't make something like that up," he said.

Farrell said he did not use his phone or call for help in the other rooms but went to the guards' room to see if they could help.

He said: "I'm an idiot, I should have used my phone. There are a lot of things I should have done.

"I just panicked."

He said he had panicked like this before when he was on tour in Afghanistan and his gun jammed.

Farrell said he wished he could remember more about the night.

Asked if he had tried to recall events Farrell said: "Yes, you wouldn't believe the amount of times I have tried.

"Just constantly thinking and thinking, it drives you insane."

Farrell said he was from Dublin and had joined the British Army in 2009, wanting to join the Royal Irish Regiment as his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had done.

Cross examination of Farrell, who denies murder, will start tomorrow.

The trial continues.