Man bludgeons schoolboy, 15, to death after paying him $2,700 to keep 'intimate' relationship under wraps
A British apprentice, 19, bludgeoned a 15-year-old schoolboy to death after paying him close to $2,700 so that he wouldn't reveal or report their "intimate" sexual relationship to the authorities, prosecutors say. Matthew Mason, who works as an apprentice mechanic, allegedly lured Alex Rodda to a remote wooded area in December last year before viciously striking him at least 15 times with a long wrench. On December 13, 2019, authorities discovered the victim's partially clothed body near the village of Ashley in Cheshire, England, according to Manchester Evening News.
The newspaper reported how prosecutors alleged that Rodda had been involved in an ongoing sexual relationship with Mason at the time of his death. Prosecutor Ian Unsworth opened the trial at Chester Crown Court on Monday. “The case for the prosecution is that Matthew Mason took Alexander Rodda to the woods on the pretense of sexual activity and then murdered him in cold blood," he told a judge.
The prosecutor said that Mason, then 18, and Rodda, had known each other for some months before the tragedy and “enjoyed an intimate sexual relationship”.
“For reasons, you may conclude, borne out of that relationship, the defendant took Alex to a remote wooded area near Ashley, not far from Bowdon in Cheshire," Unsworth told the court. “There, the defendant used a heavy and long wrench to beat Alex to the head and body over and over again.”
He explained that Rodda was struck at least 15 times in the “brutal” and “merciless” attack. “Alex did not stand a chance. His life ended in those woods," Unsworth added. “His partially clothed abandoned young body was discovered by a team of refuse collectors early the next morning.”
Rodda, a pupil at Holmes Chapel High School, had reportedly reached out to Mason's girlfriend just weeks before his death and told her he had received several “flirty” messages from her boyfriend, including sexually charged video and photos, Unsworth said.
Meanwhile, Mason has denied killing Rodda and rebuffed allegations that he sent the victim explicit material. However, an investigation revealed that the budding mechanic had allegedly started making deposits in the schoolboy's bank account, which added to a total of $2,696, prosecutors said.
Meanwhile, Rodda had also reportedly confided in a friend that Mason had been paying him for sex and had threatened to involve the authorities if he stopped. “The messages that have been recovered show that, over time, the defendant was complaining that the payments were cleaning him out," Unsworth told the court, adding that the pair had sex on at least five occasions after connecting on Instagram, according to Manchester Evening News
Rodda's mother said she returned home one day to find her son “flustered” with Mason inside, the newspaper added. “You may well think that Matthew Mason didn’t want Alex to tell anyone about their relationship,” Unsworth said in court Tuesday. “He manifestly made sure that Alex never could.”
The trial, which was adjourned for the day on Tuesday, is reportedly expected to last several weeks.