IN A DRAMATIC twist co-accused Gary George yesterday pleaded guilty to the murder of Andrew Mackenzie Nall in the middle of his trial at Chester Crown Court.

The homeless man had already admitted the unlawful killing of the 54-year-old victim at his Eversley Park flat, off Liverpool Road, Chester, but had denied murder saying he lost control due to mental impairment.

He has now also pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent against homeless man Brian James Reilly having previously denied the charge.

George could be sentenced by trial judge Elgan Edwards, the Recorder of Chester, as early as Friday.

Meanwhile, Christine Holleran, who is also accused of Mr Nall’s murder but has pleaded not guilty, was sitting alone in the dock yesterday afternoon, listening to closing speeches and the beginning of the judge’s summing up.

The jury is expected to be sent away to consider its verdict at some point today (Thursday).

A MURDER accused told a jury she came ‘face-to-face with the devil’ on witnessing Gary George stabbing the victim.

Christine Holleran, 50, continues to deny murdering Andrew Mackenzie Nall at his Eversley Park flat, Chester, in what the prosecution alleges was a joint enterprise with George, on August 30 last year.

Holleran, who gave evidence from the witness box, recalled seeing George ‘twisting’ the knife into Mr Nall’s side and then speaking ‘in a demonic voice’.

She told the jury: “I said ‘What are you doing?’ He said ‘It’s too late, he’s dead. I killed him. Get rid of the body’. He sounded like the devil and I think I came face to face with the devil himself..”

The defendant, who said she and Mr Nall were in a relationship, ‘wished’ she had phoned police. In her mind he was ‘asleep’, she said, but explained that in reality she just couldn’t accept what had happened to the man she loved.

She and George were captured on CCTV buying cider and wine from Morrisons at 7.50am the next morning using money, the prosecution allege, was taken from Mr Nall’s wallet in which Holleran’s fingerprint was found on a betting slip.

Asked by her barrister if she had stolen the money, she replied: “Have I heck! I wouldn’t do a thing like that.” But she recalled pushing the wallet down into the deceased’s pocket because it was hanging out.

Holleran had vague recollections of George, who she described as ‘like the gangster of Chester’, kicking her in the head the morning after the stabbing. But she couldn’t remember witnessing an attack on homeless man Brian Reilly later on, saying she only recalled seeing the wounds afterwards.

Holleran told the court emphatically: “I took no part whatsoever in the murder of Andrew Mackenzie Nall.”

Under cross examination, Ian Unsworth QC, prosecuting, suggested Holleran had ‘a selective memory’’.

Citing CCTV footage, he asked her if she remembered hugging George and taking a drink from his bottle of sherry just hours after Mr Nall’s death.

She countered: “Maybe I was scared. What’s he going to do, stab me? He had already put bleach in my eye balls.”

Mr Unsworth asked Holleran, who was homeless, if she had regarded Mr Nall as ‘a meal ticket’ and suggested she had her eye on his flat, but she replied she would rather he was alive even if she was still ‘living in the bushes’.

The prosecutor said her record showed she was ‘quite capable of inflicting violence’ and a witness had seen her ‘slapping’ Mr Nall just days before his death.

Asked her about George’s claims that she had told him Mr Nall had raped her, she responded: “Andy never raped me.”

Mr Unsworth asked her if she had become annoyed because Mr Nall’s ex-partner had turned up on the scene, to which she twice replied ‘no’.

In his concluding remarks, Mr Unsworth, who described Holleran as ‘a cruel, callous woman’, asked: “Did you use any implements upon him? Did you use scissors on him? Did you encourage Gary George to behave in the violent and gratuitous way he did ? Did you help by cleaning up afterwards? Did you spend Andrew Nall’s money? You did not love Andrew Nall, did you?”

“I did,” she replied.

The trial continues.

MURDERER Gary George alleged he was ‘set up’ in a letter to a friend sent from jail.

At this point the homeless man, who took the stand at Chester Crown Court, had accepted he unlawfully killed Andrew Mackenzie Nall at his Eversley Park flat, Chester, but denied murder due to loss of control.

The prosecution allege George, 42, and co-defendant Christine Holleran, 50, who has also pleaded not guilty to murder, were involved in a joint enterprise to kill 54-year-old Mr Nall on August 30 last year.

Letters sent from George to friend Louise Hodgkinson while on remand were read out by prosecutor Ian Unsworth QC.

In one he penned “I think I was set up to do it, Lou.” He also wrote: “My brief says I am looking at about 20-25 years. I can’t say too much but hopefully will get diminished responsibility.”

Earlier the court heard George, who suffers from depression, anxiety and paranoia, explain that prior to the fatal incident he had drunk four litres of sherry, bottles of cider and wine, as well as injecting heroin and cocaine.

George and his co-defendant were with the victim at his flat when the alcohol started to run out, prompting the pair to walk to Bargain Booze at Bache which was when he alleged Holleran told him Mr Nall had raped her.

George told the court: “She said he had forced himself on her two days previously. Those were the exact words.”

George, who admitted this made him angry, did not recall saying to the shop assistant he was going to ‘get him back’.

On returning to the flat, George accepted he ‘started hitting’ Mr Nall and then knocked him out by smashing a plant pot over his head but only to stop him from punching Holleran.

When Mr Nall got up the fighting continued in the hallway leading to the bedroom at which point George punched him to the floor and admitted kicking him about three times to the head.

George shut him behind the bedroom door but Mr Nall emerged with a small kitchen knife. “I presumed he was going to try and stab me so I attacked him again. He just looked angry in the face.”

George said he ‘punched him to the deck’ and accepted he kicked and stamped on his face and chest. “Then I went and got two knives and stabbed him down the side,” added George, who told the court: “I just couldn’t stop myself.”

The defendant said he also cut the victim’s ear and throat.

But George, who has now pleaded guilty to GBH with intent against Brian Reilly in the hours after the alleged murder, denied torturing Mr Nall under cross examination.

Asked how the ‘long carvings’ ended up on Mr Nall’s chest and abdomen, he replied: “I don’t know.” Asked whether the victim was dead or alive when salt was thrown on to his wounds, he again replied: “I don’t know.”

George played down his interest in witchcraft and denied all knowledge of a pagan symbol found at the crime scene, but admitted he and his friend Louise borrowed books on the subject.

The prosecution say George’s fascination for horror film The Loved Ones was the inspiration for the nature of the attack. The defendant said he watched it for the fourth time about a week before the incident because he thought it was a ‘clever’ film.

Prosecutor Mr Unsworth also asked George about an interview with a doctor when he apparently admitted offering Holleran the opportunity to partake in the attack and that she had stabbed the body with nail scissors.

George denied saying this and played down her alleged role, saying: “Christine didn’t have a clue what I was going to do.”

PATHOLOGIST Dr Christopher Johnson found the victim died of multiple injuries, with 18 or 19 stab wounds among the 49 cuts to his body.

Dr Johnson, based at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, found a cream-like substance in his left eye which was also found on the mirrored sliding door close to where the victim’s head lay. The prosecution alleges this was detergent.

Simon Medland QC, defending Christine Holleran, has raised the possibility that George was copying an attack on his client when he poured bleach on her head in a previous incident.

Dr Johnson also found damage to the victim’s voicebox, which could be due to strangulation.

There were complex rib cage injuries caused by both stab wounds and blunt trauma, with at least eight stab tracks passing through the left chest cavity and three to four cutting through bone which would have required ’severe force’.

There were crush injuries to the right side of the chest with associated bruising, suggesting the damage was caused when the victim was still alive. A total of five stab track injuries were found to the heart and one passed all the way through.

Dr Johnson also noted multiple, long, shallow wounds and marks to the left face, left arm and front of torso, which appeared to have been inflicted when the victim was dead or close to death. There were also unusual stab and puncture wounds to the right ankle.

He noted several stab and slash injuries typically associated with a person trying to defend himself, including two which passed right through the upper left arm and wrist.

Dr Johnson believes the stab wounds were caused by knives but scissors were recovered from the scene featuring Mr Nall’s blood and body tissue and he conceded these could have been used to cause some of the more superficial injuries.