THE sister of Bolton schoolboy Ryan Mason today told a murder trial of the last time she saw her seven-year-old brother alive.

Marissa Mason, aged 15, had helped her mother and Ryan decorate their home in Hawker Avenue, Great Lever.

But Ryan was sent to bed when he started "messing around" with the wallpaper.

A jury at Manchester Crown Court heard that Marissa never saw Ryan alive again.

Ronald Mariner, aged 23, of Bowland Drive, Johnson Fold, denies murdering Ryan. It is alleged the former warehouse worker battered him with a hammer, stabbed him five times to death with a kitchen knife, and strangled him.

He is then accused of using a wheelie bin to carry Ryan's body to a fairway at Farnworth and Great Lever Golf Course, and dumping it in a black bin liner.

He later accused Ryan's 43-year-old mother -- his lover and a distant relative -- of the murder, claiming he only helped her to dispose of the body, the jury of eight women and four men were told.

But giving evidence, Mrs Mason rejected Mariner's claims and told the court: "I loved my son."

Ryan's body was discovered on Wednesday, February 13, partially submerged in a boggy ditch.

Alan Conrad, QC, prosecuting, described Ryan as a "lively, sometimes boisterous boy".

The court was told Mariner told a series of lies about Ryan's whereabouts following his disappearance before blaming his lover Mrs Mason for the murder.

Mr Conrad said: "We say that is the final and most monstrous lie made by Mariner in a desperate attempt to avoid the consequences of his actions."

The murder trial was told Mariner's fingerprints were discovered on a hammer in an upstairs bedroom of the house and on a large knife in a kitchen cupboard.

The prosecution alleged he stayed overnight at Mrs Mason's home on the night of the murder -- Monday, February 11 -- a day after her 43rd birthday.

Ryan's body was discovered two days later, wrapped in a bin bag and submerged in boggy land on the fourth fairway at Farnworth and Great Lever Golf Course.

Mariner had earlier been seen pushing a wheelie bin across the course, the court heard.

And Mr Conrad said evidence later recovered from the bin linked it to Mrs Mason's home.

He said Mariner and mother-of-four Mrs Mason had enjoyed a sexual relationship for some time.

The court was told he would often stay the night at her home and regularly played computer games with Ryan and his 15-year-old sister Marissa.

Marissa told the trial that Mariner came around the night before the youngster went missing, claiming he had had a fight with his girlfriend, Alison Clarke.

Jurors were told they played Monopoly together.

Marissa said: "He sometimes stayed overnight. Sometimes Ryan would join in with games. But Ryan had been sent to bed earlier that night at 7.30pm. I never saw him alive after that."

Mariner had arrived at the house in a bad mood and asked if he could stay the night. Mr Conrad said he was "rough and aggressive" in his behaviour. The court was told Mrs Mason was feeling unwell that night and also went to bed, but woke at 12.30am, went downstairs, and had sex with Mariner before going back upstairs and falling asleep with Ryan.

She was woken at 5am by Ryan who got dressed and went downstairs to play his computer with Mariner.

Mr Conrad said: "That was the last time she also saw her son alive."

Later Mrs Mason woke to find Mariner in her bedroom. She noticed he had fresh scratches on his face before going back to sleep.

She awoke at 7.30am and found a note from Mariner on top of the television claiming he had taken Ryan to a bank then to a friend's house.

Mr Conrad said: "That was the first of a series of lies told to various people over the following days by the defendant in an effort to cover up the fact he had killed Ryan and disposed of his body."

He added: "The Crown say the defendant murdered Ryan in the living room and then wrapped his body in a bin bag in the kitchen.

"He then returned that night and moved the body, disposing of it on the golf course."

Mrs Mason -- who sobbed openly as she gave evidence -- admitted she kept a large kitchen knife, a hammer and a carving fork in the house after a series of men had attempted to break in.

She occasionally kept the knife and fork under Ryan's mattress on his bed to reassure him before he went to sleep.

Jurors were told that Mrs Mason "saw terrible danger everywhere" and would often carry the weapons downstairs if she woke in the night.

Mrs Mason admitted: "If I was attacked and they tried to touch my children I would use them."

But in cross examination Mrs Sue Klonin, defending Mariner, accused Mrs Mason of stabbing Ryan in "a flash of rage" after he had accidentally knocked over a glass of cider.

Mrs Klonin said: "I put it to you that you got up with Ryan at 8.30pm and went downstairs with him. I suggest that you sat on your couch and you would have been armed with a knife.

"I suggest that you had a flagon of cider with you and that Ryan was in very high spirits."

Mrs Klonin told the jury: "I am suggesting that Ryan was jumping around and he banged the bottle of cider into her. That with cider spilt on her and in a flash of rage, she struck out at Ryan with the knife that was by her side."

But to all the defence counsel's claims, Mrs Mason shouted: "Rubbish."

She told the court: "I loved my son and a lot of people could tell you that."

(Proceeding)