George Gordon, on trial at Liverpool Crown Court for the murder of Delia McInerney, allegedly told his cousin that she had moved to Australia and New Zealand while her dismembered body was in his freezer. The 65-year-old, from Anfield, denies murder and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
Cousin's evidence about 'fantasies'
John Lawler, Gordon's cousin, gave evidence to the jury of five men and seven women on Thursday. He said he had known Ms McInerney for "possibly 15 years, something like that" through his relative. Mr Lawler told the court she had said she had "met an Australian man online" around 2021 and planned to travel Down Under to meet him.
When Martin Reid KC, prosecuting, asked when he had last communicated with Ms McInerney, Mr Lawler replied: "It just stopped dead, all of a sudden. I thought she was living as an illegal alien in Australia or something like that. She didn't want anyone to compromise her location. That's what I thought."
After Gordon later "phoned him out of the blue" and "asked him to come to his flat and help him clean" during 2025, Mr Lawler was asked if the defendant had told him about Ms McInerney's whereabouts. He responded: "He was coming out with fantasies. She'd gone to Australia to meet this man, Rene, and she ran away with his girlfriend to New Zealand. Her girlfriend's parents in New Zealand were mega rich. This is what he told me."
"He just kept on fantasising where she was. She was here, she was there. She was moving on everywhere. She had a farm in Cornwall. That must have been a few months before he got arrested."
Neighbour's statement read to court
Junior prosecution counsel Katy Appleton read a statement from Taylor Johnson, a neighbour of Gordon's on Gerards Court, where he was known as "Mr Parcel" due to frequently taking in packages for other residents. She recalled an occasion in December last year when she took the bus and said: "Mr Parcel was sat in front of me, chatting, asking me how my baby was, and he gave me £20 for his birthday."
"He told me he and Delia had not long had a baby. I thought this was odd, as I never knew they were a couple. He said the baby was aged one and she was pregnant with another. She carried his baby and had her eggs frozen."
Body found after wellbeing concerns
During the prosecution's opening on Wednesday, Mr Reid told the jury: "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."
Ms McInerney had been friends with the defendant for many years and spent much of her time living at his flat, although she had her own house in Liverpool and property abroad. Her 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.
"Unbeknown to them, but known very well to the defendant, Delia McInerney had died in April 2023 at the defendant's hands. Her dismembered body was found in a chest freezer in the defendant's flat on the 8th of January this year."
"In the meantime, the defendant fraudulently obtained thousands of pounds from her bank accounts and obtained a loan and credit cards in her name. The defendant admits that he killed Delia McInerney but claims, we understand, that he acted in self-defence."
Gordon, represented by Gordon Cole KC and Philip Tully, denies murder and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal after allegedly drowning five guinea pigs. The trial, before Mr Justice Goose, continues.
