Lonely pensioner arrested for killing friend 'after confessing murder to his cats'

Detectives investigating the death of Joyce Sutton had secretly set up a recording device in David Henton's home.

And, after they took his car away for inspection, he was taped allegedly telling his pets he had killed her.

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On the recordings, Henton, 72, is said to have told the animals: "They know I did it" and "What can I do now? I hit my Joyce".

Mrs Sutton, 65, was found bludgeoned to death in her bedroom two years ago.

The court heard that Henton – who had visited her on a daily basis and had known her for 30 years – was initially interviewed by detectives as a witness only.

The murder investigation was going nowhere until police turned their attention back to him last January, Swansea Crown Court heard.

Paul Lewis QC, prosecuting, said the listening devices caught the life-long bachelor "musing to his cats" a number of times.

He was allegedly heard to say: "A bloody woman. It's too much, too much. I had to do ... about it."

Last January 24, he allegedly told his pets: "I don't know if they can prove it or anything.

"What am I going to say if they find anything?"

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The following day he was apparently caught saying: "Hi Joyce, it's Dai. They know I did it, see."

In another excerpt, he allegedly says: "I'm still under suspicion. I will get a solicitor.

"They know it was me. They had my car in and they searched it. But they have taken it again now."

Mr Lewis told the jury that police are allowed to use listening devices in serious investigations and officers had followed strict rules when setting up the equipment in Henton's home.

Police at first suspected Mrs Sutton had been killed by a burglar because her back door had been broken open.

However, Mr Lewis said: "Mrs Sutton was not murdered by a random burglar, but by a man she knew and trusted."

Henton had a key to his friend's neat, end-of-terrace house and sometimes stayed the night, always in a separate bedroom.

Most mornings he drove to her home in Skewen, West Glamorgan, buying her a newspaper on the way.

He would let himself in and bring her breakfast in bed.

They would then spend the day together.

"Why such a long-term relationship led to murder, we cannot say," Mr Lewis told the jury.

"But the attack on her was violent and cruel."

The divorced mother-of-one suffered multiple head injuries and died from a fractured skull.

Mr Lewis said the back door was damaged to throw police off the scent.

Mrs Sutton's blood was found on glass from the door, indicating it was broken – with the missing murder weapon – after her death, he said.

More fragments of the broken glass were allegedly found in Henton's car.

"The burglar must have been pretty inept," said Mr Lewis, because nothing was stolen from Mrs Sutton's home.

Her purse was found by her body and held £190 in cash.

Another £1,200 was found in the house, along with a collection of jewellery.

Mr Lewis added: 'There was no struggle in the bedroom.

"She was killed by someone with legitimate access to her home who wanted it to look like a burglar had done it.

"It was not burglary, just murder."

He said that before her death, Mrs Sutton had developed anxiety and depression and took to spending whole days in bed.

"It became a rather difficult and frustrating task for him to nurse his companion," said Mr Lewis.

"He became upset she was spending so much time in her room.

"He was urging her to get up and be more active.

"Had she become a burden he could no longer bear?"

Mr Lewis said witnesses would cast doubt on the time Henton said he had spent at Mrs Sutton's house around the time of the murder.

Elwen Evans, Henton's barrister, said the defence would dispute the accuracy of the prosecution's secret transcripts.

Henton, a retired lorry driver, and also from Skewen, denies murder.

He claims he found his friend dead in bed after noticing the back door had been damaged.

The trial continues.