Lover’s declare that he by accident paralysed mom of two in ‘playfight’ shouldn’t be believable, knowledgeable tells court docket
A playfight or fall from a bed could not have paralysed a teacher whose lover is on trial accused of deliberately breaking her neck, a court heard today.
Robert Easom, 56, claims he didn’t intend to seriously injure Trudi Burgess, 57, when he allegedly attacked her after she threatened to end their relationship.
He told police that the couple had been ‘playfighting’ and was so ‘traumatised’ when he realised Ms Burgess was badly hurt that he initially said she had fallen off their bed.
But expert orthopaedic surgeon Richard Coombes told the jury, sitting at Preston Crown Court, that ‘substantial force’ would have been needed to break Ms Burgess’ neck.
Scans taken at Royal Preston Hospital revealed she had suffered fractures and dislocation of vertebrae in her spine, as well as ‘total disruption’ of the spinal ligaments.
She has been left a tetraplegic, meaning she is paralysed from the chest down, and needs round-the-clock care.
‘In my opinion a severe cervical spinal injury could not have arisen with playfighting…(or) from a fall off the bed,’ Mr Coombes said.
‘This type of spinal injury can only have arisen from the application of excessive force…(and) as a result of serious assault.’
The court heard that Easom and Ms Burgess got together around 2017 while she was ‘emotionally vulnerable’ and grieving the loss of her husband, Craig, who had died of a brain tumour a year earlier.
Trudi Burgess, 57, met Robert Easom, 56, while he was working for her sister
Easom initially told police that Ms Burgess fell off their bed and was injured when a playfight ‘went wrong’
Ms Burgess, who has two grown up children, has been told that she will never walk again
Easom, a landscape gardener, had worked for Ms Burgess’ sister for 23 years and the pair knew each other from social events.
Initially, the relationship was ‘loving and passionate,’ but by 2021 it had become violent, the jury was told.
On one occasion that year, the court heard, Easom wrapped Ms Burgess’ head in a bed sheet until she was unable to breathe.
Then, on another, in January, they were returning from having dinner with friends when he headbutted her in the car after she complained they could not host them back as he did not have enough crockery or cutlery at his home.
Sarah Magill, prosecuting, said: ‘Robert Easom lost his temper and drove at excessive speeds, frightening Ms Burgess. She fled the car in fear to get away from him.’
Easom has pleaded guilty to both those assaults and also admits breaking Ms Burgess’ neck.
However, he denies doing so deliberately and Judge Robert Altham told the jury the ‘ultimate issue’ for them to decide was whether Easom ‘intended to cause really serious bodily harm.’
‘This is a terribly sad case where a terrible injury has been caused, but your task is essentially an analytical one,’ the judge said.
‘The ultimate issue is whether or not this defendant, at the moment he caused this really serious injury, intended to cause some really serious bodily harm.’
The judge said the prosecution did not have to prove that the injury was ‘premeditated or planned’ and stressed: ‘An intention can arise in the spur of the moment.
‘Just because an act is immediately regretted does not mean it was not intended.’
The court heard that the mother-of-two had become ‘alienated’ from her family during her relationship with Easom and on February 17 this year she ‘finally plucked up the courage to leave.’
Ms Burgess and her musician husband, Craig, who died of a brain tumour around nine years ago, in November 2016
The court heard Ms Burgess was ’emotionally vulnerable’ and still grieving the loss of her husband Craig (pictured) when she met Easom eight years ago
But, after telling Easom their relationship was over, he flew into an ‘uncontrollable’ rage and attacked her, it is alleged.
In a harrowing video, filmed while Ms Burgess was on a ventilator in intensive care, she told the jury she thought she was ‘going to die.’
‘He got hold of my head, and pushed it with both his hands down, it felt like it just folded in(to) my chest,’ Ms Burgess said.
‘I’ve never felt anything like it, I felt my neck break, and I started to feel that I was going numb.
‘I think I screamed, but …I had no voice, he just kept folding my head in and in and in.
‘I kept thinking, ‘’He’s gonna stop now,’’ and, ‘’I’m gonna die.’’
‘He kept doing it, and all the while he was going, “Shut the f*** up, f***ing shut up, I’ll shut you up, stop talking, stop talking.
‘I was trying to say, “You’re killing me,” (but) I couldn’t speak. I thought I was about to die.’
Initially, Easom told Ms Burgess she was ‘fine’ but she begged him to call an ambulance and eventually he dialled 999, telling the operator: ‘She’s fallen out of bed and just landed in a bad way really.’
Ms Burgess also told the call handler they had been ‘play fighting’ to ‘protect’ him.
But, the court heard that, when she realised how seriously she was injured, Ms Burgess spoke to police and told them Easom had hurt her deliberately.
He was arrested two days later and, in a prepared statement denied intentionally causing Ms Burgess grievous bodily harm.
‘I love Trudi more than life itself and would never do anything to intentionally hurt her,’ Easom said.
He later added: ‘I have loved her (Trudi) from the moment I saw her and still do today, we click and get on so well.’
Asked why he told the police operator that the couple had been playfighting and Ms Burgess had fallen off the bed, Easom said: ‘I was so traumatised and wasn’t thinking straight at all.
‘It’s just a playfight that’s gone wrong and just an absolute accident.’
The trial continues.
