Brother found dead after neighbours raised alarm over distressed dog, Swansea Crown Court told
A MAN accused of murdering his brother is standing trial at Swansea Crown Court, where jurors heard harrowing evidence about the final hours of a 48-year-old man found dead at his home in Morriston.
Darren Steel, aged 41, from Morriston, Swansea, denies murdering his brother Martin Steel on May 20, 2023. He also faces an alternative charge of manslaughter.
Opening the prosecution case on Tuesday morning (Jan 27), prosecutor Andrew Jones told the jury that Martin Steel was discovered dead inside his flat at Hill View Crescent after neighbours became concerned when his dog was found whining alone in the garden at around 8.30am.
The court heard that neighbours attempted to alert Mr Steel but received no response. They took the dog into their home and noticed its fur was matted with a red-brown substance and that the animal appeared distressed.
Further attempts were made to get an answer at the flat before another neighbour suggested contacting Mr Steel’s mother, who had been due to go shopping with him that morning.
She arrived shortly afterwards but was unable to enter through the front door, which was deadlocked, or the back door, which had been chained shut. From inside the property, she heard a voice she recognised as belonging to her son Darren ask: “Who’s that?”
After identifying herself, she was asked: “Have you brought the police with you?”
She replied that she had not, and the door was then opened.
Upon entering the flat, she found Martin Steel slumped in a chair, his face covered in blood and his eyes and face severely swollen. Mr Jones told the court the injuries were consistent with what he described as an “aggressive, ferocious attack”.
The court heard that Martin Steel’s mother placed her hand on his forehead and checked for a pulse and heartbeat, but found none. His body was cold. She called 999 and, following instructions from the emergency call handler, moved him onto the floor.
Mr Jones told the jury that the defendant then fled the scene.
While tending to her son, she heard Darren Steel say: “He’s not dead,” after she said she could not find a pulse. She also described his eyes as looking “like a shark’s eyes”.
Emergency services arrived and attempted CPR, but Martin Steel was pronounced dead at 11.06am.
The court heard that Martin Steel suffered extensive injuries, including cuts, abrasions and bruising to his face and head, internal bruising, a fractured voice box and larynx horn, collapse of his airway, and a lower lip detached from his jaw. The injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma.
The prosecution say Darren Steel killed his brother during what was described as a “fit of extreme rage”. The defendant claims he acted in self-defence after being punched twice during an argument, saying he struck his brother four to five times lawfully.
Mr Jones told the jury that body-worn camera footage captured at the scene showed what he described as an “extreme violent attack” and “starkly exposes the lie” that Martin Steel was the aggressor.
After fleeing the flat, the defendant went to a friend’s address, where he arrived intoxicated and sobbing. He told the friend that an argument with his brother had “gone too far”. He was advised to hand himself in.
When a police van arrived nearby, officers asked the defendant to identify himself. He gave the name “Andrew Jones”. The friend mouthed his real name to officers, and Darren Steel was arrested and taken to Swansea Police Station.
At the police station, the court heard that the defendant said he had smoked heroin with his brother and his girlfriend. He claimed his brother had been “coming on to” his girlfriend and had punched him several times. He said he had stayed in the flat all night, placing pillows behind his brother’s head and neck, adding: “If he’s gone, it’s manslaughter.”
A post-mortem examination concluded that Martin Steel died from blunt impact trauma to the left side of his head and face and the front of his neck, together with airway impairment caused by the deliberate application of force to a vulnerable area of the body, consistent with an intention to kill.
A microscopic examination showed that Martin Steel survived for between three and six hours after the assault, during which time the defendant was present but did nothing to help him.
Mr Jones told the court: “This demonstrates he must have been in terrible pain and suffering for several hours. The defendant did not raise a finger to help him and did nothing to give his brother any chance of survival.
“The defendant’s only concern was purely for himself.”
Jurors were shown photographs and blood-spatter analysis which, the prosecution say, contradict the defendant’s claim that his brother was standing during the assault. Instead, the evidence was said to be consistent with a man being punched while seated in a chair.
Analysis of the defendant’s clothing suggested blood transfer occurred as the victim’s blood was beginning to clot, indicating what the prosecution described as prolonged violence.
The court also heard evidence about events in the days leading up to the death. Mr Jones told jurors that on May 18 and 19, 2023, the defendant was involved in what he described as escalating violence towards others.
The prosecution said Darren Steel had since been convicted of unlawful wounding after assaulting Julian Samuels by punching him, strapping him to a chair with parcel tape, continuing to strike him to the face and throat, pressing fingers into his eyes, and threatening to cut his throat.
The jury also heard that the defendant had been convicted of assaulting his girlfriend, Dawn Begley, at Martin Steel’s flat the night before the killing. CCTV footage was shown of him chasing her with a hammer and later grabbing her by the hair in the road.
Ms Begley told the court she believed she would have been killed had she been forced back into the flat.
Mr Jones said the earlier incidents demonstrated an escalating pattern of violence that culminated in Martin Steel’s death.
He told the jury: “Darren Steel was in a fit of rage and he took it out on his brother. Martin Steel was incapable of defending himself. He stood idly by as his brother’s life ebbed away.”
The trial continues at 10.30am on Wednesday (Jan 28).
