Bury man accused of killing mother at Bolton Crown Court

Stephen Ball, 32, was arrested after his mother, 55-year-old Susanne Galvin was badly injured at their shared flat on Pear Avenue in Bury on September 16 last year.

A trial that opened this week at Bolton Crown Court heard how neighbours had been alarmed that evening by noises coming from the flat.

Prosecutor Gordon Cole KC said: “But the disturbance led to the making of some 999 calls.”

He added: “Part of what was heard was the defendant shouting ‘thieving bitch’ and ‘mum let me in.’”

The trial opened at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Cole told the jury of seven men and five women how at around the same time Ball called his grandmother in Ireland, Mary Galvin, and told her that his mother’s wrist was broken.

He said that Ms Galvin did not want to be taken to hospital and instead would go in the morning.

But on asking to speak with her daughter, Mary Galvin heard her at the other end of the phone “breathing erratically.”

Mrs Galvin then tried to tell Ball to call an ambulance, but he said he had “no credit” on his phone and so called an ambulance herself.

Mr Cole said that when the police arrived Ball gave “conflicting accounts” of how his mother’s injuries came about and was arrested at the scene on suspicion of assault.

Police on Pear Avenue the following morning (Image: Newsquest)

Susanne Galvin was taken to Salford Royal Hospital where she died two days later.

Home Office pathologist Dr Philip Lumb gave the cause of her death as “blunt force head injury.”

When Ball was arrested that evening a pair of Asics trainers were seized, and examination of the patterns matched those on Ms Galvin’s face.

Mr Cole said this was “consistent with stamping” on her face or head.

Having been re-arrested after his mother’s death Ball was then charged with her murder on Wednesday, September 20 that year.

He gave no reply to the charge and remained silent throughout his police interview

Mr Cole told the court how Ball and his mother had had an “argumentative” and “aggressive” relationship, and that both had struggled with addiction.

He said that Ms Galvin was seen with facial injuries in the days leading up to her death.

The court was played a police interview with Mary Galvin, mother of Susanne and Ball’s grandmother.

She said that while she stayed with them her daughter Ms Galvin had frequently been “screaming and shouting".

Speaking about her daughter, Mrs Galvin said: “I know she had a tragic and chaotic life but for it to finish the way it has is a nightmare.”

She added: “What I think now it that he’s been failed dreadfully, and this is what’s happened.”

Mrs Galvin then gave evidence in the witness box where Michael Brady KC, defending, asked about the mother and son’s relationship.

She agreed that despite their difficulties “there was a very close bond of love and affection between the pair” and that he “wouldn’t have a bad word said about her".

But Mrs Galvin said that she did not believe Ball should have been sent to live in a small, shared flat with his mother.

She said that Ball had been “good” while she had stayed over with them the most recent time, but Ms Galvin would “shout and scream all the time".

Mrs Galvin said she believed he had been “failed dreadfully” by the relevant authorities.

Ball has admitted to manslaughter but denies murder.

The trial before the Honorary Recorder for Bolton Judge Martin Walsh continues.