November 17, 2015 5.03 pm This story is over 108 months old

Lincoln mother recounts horrific moment she found son murdered in the bath

Murder trial: The mother of a nine-year-old allegedly murdered in the bath by his own granddad has told a jury how she found the little boy’s body.

The mother of a nine-year-old allegedly murdered in the bath by his own granddad has told a jury how she found the little boy’s body.

Joanne Greene told the jury at Lincoln Crown Court on Tuesday, November 17 that her son Alex chose to stay at home with her father Stewart Greene while she went shopping for the Christmas turkey.

Miss Greene said she was away from her home in Pennell Street, Lincoln, for less than an hour and returned to find the front door was locked.

She told the jury that she banged on the door and was eventually let in by her dad who then told her he had drowned Alex.

Giving evidence on a pre-recorded DVD, she said she initially did not believe her father.

She said: “I heard him saying something but I didn’t quite catch what he said. Then he said ‘I’ve drowned Alex in the bath’. That’s all I heard.

“I told him to get out of my house. I thought he was just saying it. In the past he has said weird things.”

Miss Greene said she then began wondering where Alex was and went to check the bathroom.

“The bath was full of water and Alex was in the bath. He was face up. His eyes were closed. He looked dead.

“My mum came in. She was just screaming. I grabbed my phone and rang 999.

“My mum was trying CPR then the paramedics came.”

She described her father as looking “vacant” and told the jury he did not do anything to assist.

Miss Greene said her father had previously begged to be allowed to live at her home as he did not like living at his warden-controlled bungalow near Louth.

But she told the jury she had always refused his requests and said she could not cope with him living at her house.

The jury has heard that Stewart Greene was released from the Peter Hodgkinson Centre, a psychiatric unit in Lincoln, less than a fortnight from the killing and then went to stay at his ex-wife’s home in the city because he did not want to go back to Grimoldby.

On the day of the incident he went with his ex-wife to visit Joanne and stayed at her property with Alex while the two women went shopping at a nearby Tesco store.

Greene, 65, of Danes Court, Grimoldby, near Louth, denies the murder of Alex Robinson on 23 December 2014.

The trial continues.

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