Archie Spriggs murder trial: Partner tells of horror scene at family house
The partner of a Shropshire mother accused of murdering her seven year old son has told a court of the moment he discovered the scene.
Archie Spriggs was found lying dead in his bed at the family's home, in Rushbury Road, Wall under Heywood, near Church Stretton, on September 21 last year by Darren Jones.
Archie's mother Lesley Speed is accused of strangling and smothering him hours before Mr Jones arrived home from work and discovered her with cuts to her neck, arm and wrist.
Speed, 44, is on trial at Birmingham Crown Court.,
Giving evidence, Mr Jones said that shortly after he arrived home at about 6pm he heard Speed calling his name from upstairs at the three-bedroom terraced house.
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"I went inside through the kitchen, through the back entrance. I noticed that Les's keys were there. I shouted 'Les' . I got no response. I was going through my paper when I heard Les calling down the stairs. Her voice was coming from upstairs. She was shouting 'Daz'."
Miss Sally Howes QC, prosecuting barrister, asked him: "When you heard her, how did her voice sound?"
Mr Jones, a ground worker, replied: "It was faint. I walked up the stairs, got to the end of the stairs where you can see into the bedroom, but I couldn't see Les. I heard her call again and she was in the bathroom behind me.
"I opened the door and put my head in. Les was lying on the floor. It was dark. She was in her pyjamas and she was covered in blood. I couldn't see where the blood was coming from until my eyes adjusted. There was a cut on her neck, on her arm and on her wrist.
"There was blood on the floor, the shower curtain and a bit on the sink."
Sobbing
Mr Jones said Speed was sobbing.
"She was begging me to finish her off. She did not want to be here anymore," he told the court.
He said he asked Speed where Archie was and that she replied, "I have killed him".
Mr Jones told the court that at that stage he was in a state of "shock and disbelief".
He said Speed told him that after he had left to work she went into Archie's room and that he had "tried to hang himself" with a scarf.
"She said she cuddled him up and smothered him so that he would not have to suffer anymore," Mr Jones said.
He said that Speed's older son, Zack, 20, then arrived, but he told him to remain downstairs while he phoned the emergency services for help.
Mr Jones told the court that there had been issues between Speed and Archie's father Matthew Spriggs over contact visits and that she was worried that Archie would be taken away,
Speed had failed to attend a family court hearing on the day of the alleged murder over residency for Archie.
A recording of Mr Jones's 999 call was played to the jury previously. He could be heard telling the operator that Archie appeared to have been dead for some time.
Speed, who has a history of depression, denies murdering him.
The trial continues.
