A neighbour of a man accused of murdering and dismembering his "soul mate" has told Liverpool Crown Court that his St Helens flat was "disgusting" and caused flies and bluebottles to infest her own home. George Gordon, 62, from Anfield, is accused of killing Delia McInerney, whose body was found in a freezer at his flat on Gerards Court in January this year.
The court heard that Gordon also urinated into bottles which he kept in the bedroom of his property. Ms McInerney, 65, is alleged to have been killed in April 2023, having apparently been hit over the head with a hammer, days before she was due to move to Portugal.
Neighbour's evidence
Jean Jones, who lived in the same block of flats as Gordon, gave evidence to the jury of five men and seven women. She said she had lived at the address for "25, 26 years" while the defendant had been there for "about seven or eight years" prior to his arrest.
Ms Jones said her interactions with Gordon, who was known as "Chris", were usually "just chats really, [about] the weather, things like that". She recalled that when she first met him, he told her "his wife was going to follow down". Of her first meeting with Ms McInerney, she added: "I said to her 'are you Chris' wife'. She said 'I'm not his wife, we're friends.'"
Jurors heard that Ms Jones often saw Ms McInerney sitting in the communal garden with her guinea pigs and that they had "casual chat", with the deceased occasionally waving up to her apartment.
Gordon's 'dirty habits'
Asked by Martin Reid KC, prosecuting, if there were times Ms McInerney helped her, Ms Jones said: "One time my partner was in hospital. I needed to take him some clothes down. Delia offered to run me down and did me a big favour. She was telling me all about Chris's bad habits."
She added: "She was saying he was dirty to live with. She said she'd get up in the night for a wee and her feet would be squelching. He used to wee all over the bathroom floor. He'd wee in bottles and leave them all over the bedroom. I must have been on about something my partner's done. She was like 'that's nothing, you want to try living with Chris' and told me about his dirty ways and habits."
Ms Jones confirmed she had seen inside Gordon's flat, telling the jury: "If Delia was there, it was tidy. Not too bad. Then when Delia wasn't there, it was a bit of a mess, a dump really." She also said she was told of "fallouts" because of the state of the flat, though she did not witness them herself.
Flies and bluebottles
The court heard Ms Jones stopped seeing Ms McInerney around 2023, after Gordon told her she was going abroad. She said: "Chris told us she was going abroad and wasn't coming back. He was telling us all when we was in and out. He said to me 'Delia's going to Portugal'. She did go to Portugal every now and then. She'd have a month or two there then come back. That happened quite regularly. He said 'she's going to Portugal and she's not coming back this time'."
After this conversation, Ms Jones did not see Ms McInerney again. Asked about the state of Gordon's flat after she had left, she said: "It was a mess. We only went to the front door. There were flies and all sorts. People started complaining over the smell."
She added: "I had an operation on my right lung. I was recovering. I had people visiting me. They were all on about the smell downstairs and on the landing and corridors. It was shocking. It was disgusting. And flies. And me and my partner, we had flies in my flat. I've never had as many flies and bluebottles. I kept getting a terrible smell in my bathroom. It was shocking."
Prosecution's case
Mr Reid previously told the jury during the prosecution's opening: "On the 8th of January this year, the police attended the defendant George Gordon's flat in St Helens. They went there because concerns had been raised by a number of people and agencies about the whereabouts and wellbeing of Delia McInerney."
He said Ms McInerney had been friends with Gordon for many years and spent much of her time living at his flat, although she had her own house in Liverpool and property abroad. He added: "Ms McInerney's friends had not seen her for some time. The defendant, for over 18 months, lied to them about her whereabouts and sometimes pretended to be Ms McInerney when communicating with her friends by phone messages or email."
Gordon admits killing Ms McInerney but claims he acted in self-defence. He denies murder and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal after allegedly drowning five guinea pigs. The trial, before Mr Justice Goose, continues.
