Hotel owner had no recollection of killer

Oct 9 2008 by Chris Robinson, The Journal

A HOTEL owner could not remember seeing wanted Allan Foster with an allegedly corrupt detective during a weekend stay, a court heard.

Gail Payne told a jury that she chatted to John Jones and Bruce McCall while they attended a bodybuilding contest in Southport, Merseyside.

But when she was shown pictures of each of the three men, she couldn’t identify Foster as being there with them in May 2005.

Prosecutors allege that Detective Constable Jones and gym owner McCall were with Foster who a year later became wanted for the murder of David “Noddy” Rice in South Shields.

Mrs Payne told the court that three rooms had been booked under McCall’s name and that the majority of guests staying were there for the contest.

The jury of nine men and three women heard that Mrs Payne had been shown photographs by police but she could only identify Jones and McCall as having stayed there as she remembered speaking to them.

Prosecuting, Toby Hedworth QC said: “Can you remember what they said they were there doing in Southport?

Mrs Payne replied: “That weekend is the bodybuilding competition and they said they were there in relation to the bodybuilding. From what I remember, they were not competing.”

She told the court that she believed the pair were there to watch the contest and were supplyng supplements. Mrs Payne said she remembered Jones and McCall because of their accents as her husband was from Middlesbrough.

She added: “They were nice young men, I had no problem with them.”

The defence team brought into the court room a male bodybuilder, referred to as Mr Kennedy, and the hotelier was asked if she could identify him but she couldn’t.

Defending, Ben Nolan QC said: “We were looking at photographs in relation to events that had occurred about 18 months before and understandably you may have had difficulty recalling faces.”

The jury was previously told that investigators had unearthed a photograph of McCall, Jones and Foster together at a bodybuilding contest in Merseyside in 2005, when Foster was supposed to be at work in a haulage yard in Doncaster as part of his stay in an open prison.

Allegations that Foster had struck up a cash deal with Jones in return for police information have already been revealed to the court.

Jones, 48, denies three charges of misconduct in public office.

McCall, 42, of Cornelia Terrace, Seaham, denies aiding and abetting Jones’s alleged misconduct and further charges of importing, supplying, and possessing Class C steroids.

The trial, scheduled to last for six weeks, continues.