MURDERER Scott Davidson was caught because the victim took two friends linked by an open phone line who heard a loud screech at the time he was shot.
Davidson had invited Martin Ithell to his Frodsham home on the evening of Friday, March 11, on the false promise of having the £26,000 he owed him.
On arrival, Davidson shot him in the heart with a shot gun taken from his father’s house in Elton. A post-mortem examination found the victim was also stabbed eight times to the neck.
But Mr Ithell had ‘smelled a rat’ so took two friends Tony O’Donnell and Paul Murphy who waited in a nearby car and listened into the conversation as their friend, who was wearing a blue-tooth earpiece, turned up at the door.
When they heard a loud screech and the phone line went dead they grew concerned. Then they saw the victim’s BMW car being driven past them with Davidson at the wheel.
The pair found the front steps of the house covered in blood and returned with a police sergeant after running to the nearby police station. An ‘hysterical’ Horton answered the door.
It wasn’t until some hours later that a police negotiator contacted Davidson and he agreed to surrender himself at Blacon Police Station with the body on the back seat of the BMW.
Davidson, a doorman, had borrowed £16,000 from Mr Ithell to pay bills and buy a Subaru Impreza car but had no means to repay the debt which swelled to £26,000 due to the interest.
Such were his finances that Davidson planned to commit armed robberies. Killing Ithell was his ultimate solution.
The prosecution alleged Davidson bought paint from B&M Bargains in Boughton on the day of the murder to cover any blood splashes in the house and petrol to burn the body.
He told Ithell he had secured a loan to repay him by handing over his Subaru so prior to his arrival moved the car to Manley Boarding Kennels where he used to work.
