This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A construction worker who was jailed 11 years ago for attacking an ex-soldier has gone on trial for murder after his victim died of epilepsy.

Neil Sutherland, 35, is charged with murdering Paul Mills by battering him with a baseball bat. He has already served a four-year jail sentence for the assault.

A jury heard on Monday that in 2006 the pair got into an argument over the sale of the metal bat in a layby before Sutherland, 22 at the time, repeatedly struck Mills to the head.

Mills suffered catastrophic head injuries including a fractured skull and brain damage as well as post-traumatic epilepsy, which meant he suffered uncontrollable regular seizures, the court heard.

In 2017, 11 years after the attack and seven years after Sutherland was released from jail, 44-year-old Mills was found dead at his home near Warminster, Wiltshire, face-down in the bathroom.

Sutherland was charged with murder and the prosecutor, William Mousley QC, said the epileptic fit that caused Mills’s death was a direct result of the “extremely violent” attack more than a decade previously.

A pathologist who examined his body has said there was an “unbroken link” between the death and the assault, the jury heard.

Mousley told the court that Sutherland, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, attacked Mills on 28 July 2008.

The QC said: “Mr Mills was unarmed and Sutherland intended to cause him really serious harm and he did so – namely a fractured skull and brain damage. Sutherland was prosecuted and pleaded guilty, but Mr Mills developed epilepsy from the injuries.

“He had his first seizure not long after being taken to hospital and from that day on there were regular seizures for 11 years, despite treatment and medication.

“At the beginning of March in 2017 Mr Mills was found dead at home alone, having suffered an epileptic fit. His death was a result of what happened to him in 2006.”

He added: “Sutherland admitted his guilt in 2006 but now Mr Mills has died he says he has done nothing wrong. He said he was trying to defend himself and that the fatal injuries were not his fault.

“He blames his father, who is now deceased and unable to deny it, for making him plead guilty [in 2006].”

Mousley told Salisbury crown court that Mills was left in a coma after the attack. He was cared for by his mother for a year after he was released from hospital.

The barrister said Mills briefly served in the army before being dismissed for joyriding and his last years had led a “generally happy life” away from trouble and had become a grandfather.

James Newton-Price QC, defending, said Sutherland was a “man of low intelligence” and had a “mild learning disability”, although this is disputed by the prosecution.

Sutherland denies murder. The trial continues.