A court has heard that a murdered man from County Antrim, whose semi-naked remains were disposed of in a reservoir, had over 100 injuries.
During a plea hearing at Belfast Crown Court, details about the “ferocious” fatal attack on Roy Reynolds were revealed for the first time.
In March 2022, Mr Reynolds, a 50-year-old man, was stabbed and battered in a Rathcoole flat.
After that, his remains were put in a car’s boot and driven to a reservoir, where a breezeblock was used in an attempt to drown his body.
Michael Campbell (34), whose address was given as HMP Maghaberry, has admitted murdering Mr Reynolds on a date between March 26 and 29, 2022.
He has also admitted a charge of attempting to prevent the burial of a body on March 28, 2022.
Following the murder, Campbell called Robert Mervyn Fulton (70), of Brickhill Park in Newtownabbey, who drove his co-accused to the reservoir while transporting Mr. Reynolds’ body in the trunk of his Toyota.
The retiree admitted guilt to helping a criminal from March 26, 2022, through March 29, 2022.
Following hearing arguments from the prosecution and defence, Mr. Justice O’Hara announced that he would sentence both individuals on March 13 but that he needed more time to consider what he had heard.
Crown attorney Ciaran Murphy KC addressed the senior judge earlier, characterising the event as a “ferocious, brutal killing.”
The last time Mr. Reynolds, a resident of Newtownabbey, was seen on camera walking alone was on Sunday, March 27, at approximately 8:45 p.m. on Derrycoole Way in Rathcoole.
Mr Murphy said “the evidence suggests” he was murdered in Campbell’s flat at Derrycoole Way some time between the evening of March 27 and the early hours of the following morning.
Around 10pm on March 27, Campbell sent a video message to a relative from his flat where Mr Reynolds was present.
At around 4.30am on Monday morning, police received a call regarding a naked body being dragged from a flat and placed into the boot of a car.
The witness provided police with the car’s registration, which was quickly traced to Fulton.
Details were circulated to police and the vehicle was stopped just before 7am on Monday in Rathcoole.
Officers observed bloodstains on Campbell, who claimed he has been fighting with his brother and when the vehicle was searched, pools of blood were visible in the boot and other areas of the Toyota.
Fulton was made aware of this, and when the officers stated that someone was seriously injured, he responded, “Yes, I know.”
Fulton answered “Sure you know rightly” when questioned if there had been a body in his boot.
When Campbell was taken into custody on murder charges, he retorted, “Murdered who?”
in 8.30 a.m. that day, Mr. Reynolds’s body was found in shallow water in Carrickfergus’ North Woodburn Reservoir.
A man approached a woman walking her dogs and claimed to have found a body in the water, but he could not get a connection on his phone.
The semi-naked corpses were discovered in the reeds, and police were notified. According to Mr. Murphy, a breezeblock was installed “with the clear intention the body would not be found.”
A blood-stained pile of clothing, towels, and rubbish bags was also discovered, and the situation was declared uninhabitable.
At Campbell’s flat, more searches revealed evidence of a major attack.
The apartment was completely covered with blood, and there was even a bloodstained path from the apartment to a nearby parking lot.
Seized from the apartment were clothes, a knife and a screwdriver—all of which contained Mr Reynolds’s blood.
He died as a result of several injuries to his neck, head, chest, and belly, according to a post-mortem examination.
The prosecutor revealed that there were “well in excess of 100 sites of injuries” on Mr. Reynolds’ body and claimed that a “variety of mechanisms” were responsible for them.
The court was informed that these included the use of weapons, strangling, stamps, kicks, and punches.
Regarding the interviews with Campbell, the prosecutor stated that he gave an account of what transpired during the course of eleven interviews.
He asserted that he was provoked, that he acted in self-defense, and that he had invited Mr Reynolds to his flat for a drink.
Campbell claimed that Mr. Reynolds banged his head on a filing floor after falling backwards after an argument.
In addition to telling police he had to get Mr Reynolds out of his apartment and into his car, Campbell claimed to have panicked and called Fulton.
He added that he had no intention of seriously hurting Mr. Reynolds and had not used any weapons in the attack.
He added that as regards to the disposal, he simply drove about looking for a location where the body would be easily located.
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