'Vicious' attack killed alcoholic

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A former businessman who became an alcoholic was killed in a "sustained and vicious attack" by people who had "preyed" on him, a court has heard.

Cancer sufferer Phillip Bannan, 58, was beaten and had boiling water and sugar poured on him during the assault, a jury at Cardiff Crown Court was told.

Lyndsey Bowden, 29 and James O'Driscoll, 62, have denied a joint charge of murder.

Mr O'Driscoll's son Billy Sage, 38, had previously admitted murder.

Roger Thomas, prosecuting, said a pathologist found 25 separate injuries on Mr Bannan's body, including 11 to his head.

He said: "He was the victim of a sustained and vicious attack, a quite cruel and callous attack, as he was quite literally beaten to death."

The court was told that Mr Bannan, who was known as "an easy touch", had befriended the defendants, and they later moved into his flat in Roath, Cardiff.

Mr Thomas said that on the night he died, neighbours had heard shouting from the flat.

During the attack, Mr Bannan suffered cuts, bruises and multiple fractures to his ribs.

The evidence points overwhelmingly to the fact that the defendants were preying on the deceased, using his home, using his money that he had from benefits, and mistreating him. Roger Thomas, prosecuting

A child's toy found near the body is also thought to have been used as a weapon.

The court heard blood and hairs were found on its wooden base.

The medical cause of death was blunt force head injury.

Pathologist Dr Stephen Leadbeatter said in a report that Mr Bannan may have died up to two hours after the head injuries were inflicted.

The court heard that the three left the flat after the attack on 2 November 2006 and Ms Bowden and her boyfriend later returned, Sage bringing his ex-wife Veronica Sage with him.

Mr Thomas said Ms Sage recalled Ms Bowden nudging Mr Bannan with her foot, and saying: "He deserved it".

Sage and Ms Bowden left Cardiff the following day and caught a train to Southampton after being given £600 in cash by Mr O'Driscoll, the jury heard.

They were later arrested there after South Wales Police received an anonymous phone call telling them there was a body in Mr Bannan's flat.

Officers found walls and furniture in the flat splattered with blood.

In police interviews, Ms Bowden, formerly of Aberdare, claimed father-of-six Mr O'Driscoll, who was arrested earlier this year, was the instigator and had been "egging on" his son.

Police carried out a forensic examination of Mr Bannan's flat

She told officers Mr Bannan had deserved "a clout" but not to be killed, and said she had been "hysterical" when Sage told her the man had died.

Mr O'Driscoll said in police interviews that he had told his son to leave Mr Bannan alone and denied any involvement in the attack, the court heard.

Mr Thomas said: "The evidence points overwhelmingly to the fact that the defendants were preying on the deceased, using his home, using his money that he had from benefits, and mistreating him.

"He was in no position to prevent what was happening to him."

Mr Thomas told the court that Mr Bannan was born in Cardiff and had been married with children.

After his business making metal garden gates collapsed in the 1990s, Mr Bowden became an alcoholic and lost his home. His marriage also broke up and he developed mental health problems, he said.

After becoming estranged from his family, he took to living on the streets before moving into the flat in Roath.

He had been diagnosed with cancer shortly before his death and was receiving treatment.

The trial continues.