Georgina Edmund case.

I have recently been to Winchester Crown Court in the public gallery to keep up to date with the Georgina Edmund's murder case. Georgina was murdered in her home back in 2008 allegedly for her pin number to her credit card. She was stabbed and smacked in the head with a rolling pin which was found at the crime scene. At first it was her son who was suspected to be the murderer however for the past 7 weeks a 33 year old electrician, Matthew Hamlen has been on trial since his arrest in 2010. The prosecution alleges Mr Hamlen tried to use the card and was captured on CCTV wearing a hooded fluorescent jacket. 


This case is a big case and is well covered by many papers and news channels. There has been many reporters in the gallery and the press seats to cover what happens each day of the trial as it begins to come to an end.


This week I have been to Winchester on Tuesday 10th January 2012  where Matthew was on the stand and again on Thursday 12th January 2012 where some information was given. I was sat in the public gallery behind the accused (Matthew) family to listen to what Matthew had to say when he was being questioned by the prosecution barrister (who may I add appears to be very good). It was heard that he 'doesn't remember' much of what he was doing the night Georgina was murdered as it was back in 2008, and he believed he wouldn't be a suspect back then. It was also revealed by the barrister of the prosecution that an alleged 'alibi' Matthew was going to use didn't add up. This is because he said he was with 2 'friends' that night at a party, however it was worked out cleverly using a diary of 2008 that he couldn't have possibly even know these people then. Matthew claimed that he never asked his friends to alibi him in the first place however was overheard via a covert observation set up by the police speaking to his mum about his alibi.


It was also picked up on by the barrister that throughout Matthew's statements he had called himself 'nosey' and referred to the area of Bishopstoke as 'quiet' and 'remote' which was picked up on for debate by the barrister. Matthew stated that 'nosy' was a wrong choice of word even though he had used it on numerous occasions throughout statements and said the area was 'quiet' as he liked to take his dogs out for a walk there along the riverbank.


On Wednesday 11th January 2012, Mr Webster an expert forensic scientist took to the stand to discuss DNA samples and combinations. He was also first on the stand when I was back in the gallery on the Thursday. It was heard that the DNA had been contaminated in some way and that it contained a mixture of DNA including Mrs Edmund's. It was made clear that the DNA didn't match that of Matthew Hamlen's exactly, however from the 2000 samples taken he was still recorded as the closest match to it. 


Once Mr Webster had finished debating his expert results with the defence barrister a mobile phone investigator took to the stand. His findings tracked all mobile phone calls from TMobile users in the local area to try and locate where the calls were made. He also had Mr Hamlen's phone records of that night which showed a few connected calls that lasted a couple of seconds. These were identified as a loss or lack of signal from a mobile or that the person hadn't answered their phone and it had gone to answer phone. It was left at this with no arguments from the barrister.


Thursday ended with 3 defence witnesses who spoke of Matthew as a person. First was a friend  Matthew Brett, the husband of Hamlen’s cousin, who said he had known the alleged killer for 18 years. He had visited Hamlen in prison recently and stated that he appeared to be 'angry as he was in prison for something he didn't do'. The other 2 witnesses Tamara Denny and Joanna Croney are friends of his mother Linda Manning and described to the court that Matthew was friendly, principled and caring towards his mother and someone who had a 'nice way about him'. The jury were allowed to leave at 3:30pm ready for a 10am start on Friday 13th January 2012 where 2 other defence witnesses were due to take to the stand. By the looks of it the hearing was adjourned today, however I wasn't present so will need to keep up to date on line with what happened.


Although we start back at Uni on Monday, I hope to try and get back in to the gallery sometime next week as it is believed the case may be close to its summary hearing.