Man found guilty of murder on Barton Walk, Farnworth

Ashley Crowder, 36, denied murdering 37-year-old Graham Cox after repeatedly stealing his money to buy drugs and keeping his trapped in his flat.

But this week a jury convicted him of the crime with a string of other offences, leaving Crowder facing a life sentence.

Opening the case at the start of the trial, Mukul Chawla KC, prosecuting, said: “The murder occurred in the days before Graham Cox’s body was discovered on the evening of March 5.

“He had been beaten and there were fractures of the laryngeal cartilages in the neck.”

The trial took place at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Phil Taylor)

Mr Chawla said it had not been possible to establish the exact time of Mr Cox’s death but that it had happened at some point before March 5, 2024.

Mr Chawla told the jury that Mr Cox had been “extremely vulnerable”, because of his long-term drug use and from strokes he suffered in 2023.

He told jurors that Crowder had access to Mr Cox’s bank cards and phone and so was able to take money from him in the period leading up to the 37-year-old’s death.

Mr Chawla said: “The thefts alleged are that this defendant stole money from Mr Cox.

Officers on Barton Walk (Image: Newsquest)

“Not in the usual way perhaps by picking his pocket or by taking his wallet but, by forcing Mr Cox to pass all the money that he received as benefits from the Department of Work and Pensions to the defendant when Mr Cox was, as you will see, in desperate need of it.”

Crowder, of Barton Walk, Farnworth, had denied all the charges put to him.

Richard Pratt KC, defending, told the jury that far from being his killer, Crowder had been the “only person” to put a roof over Mr Cox’s head.

Police on the scene on Barton Walk (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Pratt told the court the prosecution had failed to “shut down” the chance that someone else could have killed Mr Cox.

He reminded the jury of Mr Crowder’s police interview where he claimed that around 50 people had made use of his flat.

Mr Pratt said: “Could some person unknown or unidentified have caused the death of Graham Cox?”

But on Wednesday June 17 the jury convicted Crowder of murder, assault and four counts of theft.

The Honorary Recorder of Bolton Judge Nicholas Clarke KC remanded Crowder into custody and ordered that he be brought back to court to be sentenced on Wednesday July 29.