Mum found dead son on doorstep

THE mother of a murder victim has told how she returned home to find him dead on her doorstep.

Julie Partington saw her son Dale Partington lying in the passage to her home when she returned from work on December 16 last year.

In a statement read to Hull Crown Court in the trial for her son's murder, she said: "After parking my car I walked to the passage and saw my son Dale laid on the floor.

"I called an ambulance and they confirmed what I already knew – my son was dead."

Mrs Partington said before seeing her son, she noticed blood on the floor and thought her cat had been run over.

"I then saw Dale's feet," she said. "I dropped my things on the floor and ran towards him. As I got there, I could see he was dead.

"I have emergency first aid training and even though I knew he was dead, I checked for his pulse and I saw how cold he was."

She said there was a metal bar lying next to his body.

It later emerged it was from a weight training kit.

Leon Rushworth is on trial, charged with his murder.

Mr Partington, 27, was stabbed twice in the groin and bled to death outside his home in St Lawrence Avenue, Snaith.

Mr Rushworth is accused of murdering Mr Partington over a £100 drug debt and then using Facebook to plot his alibi.

Mrs Partington said she last saw her son, who had been working on off-shore wind farms, when he returned from walking his dog.

He told his mum "see you later" before going out drinking with his friends.

The court heard it was the last time she saw him alive.

She said: "He was just his normal self. He didn't seem to be stressed about anything.

"I assumed he was going to the pub as usual. He goes to a pub in Drax as he is banned from all the pubs in Snaith.

"He loves his social life and this sometimes causes him some trouble."

In her statement, Mrs Partington said she had never known her son to use or carry weapons.

The prosecution alleges Mr Rushworth and Mr Partington met each other in the early hours in Snaith and had a fight.

It is alleged Mr Rushworth, of Chestnut Close, Snaith, knocked both his victim's front teeth out before stabbing him twice using a knife he retrieved from the glove box of his car.

The court heard that after the murder, Mr Rushworth allegedly asked his partner's nephew, James Currier, 25, to dispose of the murder weapon and asked his partner Anne Kennedy, to lie for him.

It is alleged he used information about the murder investigation as it emerged on Facebook to create an alibi.

The court heard Mr Rushworth told the police that Mr Partington got the better of him in the fight and left.

The jury heard Mr Partington had been out drinking with friends before his death and had received text messages from Mr Rushworth asking for him to repay a £100 cocaine debt.

Mr Rushworth, 37, denies murder and the trial continues.