Telford murder: Jury hears how van driver found slain man 'ashen-grey and lifeless'
A man who had been involved in a physical altercation outside his neighbour's home in Telford was found "ashen-grey and lifeless" by a van driver the next morning, a court has heard.
Anthony Wootton, 41, was found dead in the car park of Orient Court off Gresley Close in Woodside at around 6.30am on July 17.
His death followed a physical altercation 12 hours earlier with his neighbour, 32-year-old Ashley Harris, who has denied killing him.
Last week, during Harris' murder trial, Stafford Crown Court had heard how the defendant was accused of striking Mr Wootton with a garden rake following a fight between the pair in Armstrong Close on Sunday, July 16.
The court had heard that the brawl followed a row between Mr Wootton and his partner Carlene Garrett, who had fled to Harris' home in "fear of her life" following an attack by Mr Wootton that afternoon.
On Monday, in the second week of Harris' murder trial at Stafford Crown Court, the jury was told that self-employed van driver Stephen Anslow found Mr Wootton's body at neighbouring Orient Court in Woodside the next morning.
In a submitted statement read to the jury, he said he found the body as he left for work at around 6.30am on Monday, July 17.
He said he saw a white male, around 6ft tall, with a blue hoody pulled over his face, slumped on the ground between Mr Anslow's silver van and his green Volvo in the private car park to Orient Court.
"I thought he was asleep on the floor," said Mr Anslow. "But he was ashen-grey and lifeless."
