A teenager accused of murdering his girlfriend walked out of the dock during his trial this afternoon.
Liam Cain is currently facing a jury at Liverpool Crown Court accused of the murder of his partner Courtney Boorne. The 20-year-old died on December 23 last year after being discovered unresponsive at the couple's flat on Quarry Green Heights in Kirkby.
The trial continued for a third day today, Wednesday. But, as pathologist Dr Paul Johnson began to give evidence from the witness box concerning the post-mortem investigation he conducted, Cain got up from his seat in the dock and left to return to the cells.
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At this, Judge Brian Cummings KC asked the jurors to retire before recalling them after a brief halt in proceedings. He then told them: "You will have noticed, doubtless, that the dock is empty.
"The defendant Liam Cain chooses to be absent from this part of the evidence. Do not read anything into that."
Dr Johnson continued to address the panel of four men and eight women in Cain's absence. He detailed a number of scratches, abrasions and haemorrhages noted to Ms Boorne's face and head - with the latter "believed to have been caused by the veins in the neck having been obstructed by pressure".
The witness stated that there had been "no fracture present" to the carer's larynx but found damage to her windpipe, saying of this: "There is good evidence that the windpipe has been forcibly compressed. There has been a forceful, squeeze-type injury to the neck area."
Dr Johnson described injuries to Ms Boorne's body which may have been "consistent with someone attempting CPR". He also addressed a number of grazes found to her fingers, telling the jury: "They're an odd group of little injuries.
"I can't be sure about the mechanism. My thought was the most likely explanation is they could be from teeth."
Dr Johnson recorded a conclusion of death by "mechanical asphyxiation", adding: "This most commonly involves forceful neck compression or external airway occlusion, or a combination of these forms of life-threatening assault. It is difficult to provide a definitive opinion as to the exact combination of asphyxiations based on pathology alone.
"In my opinion, there is clear pathological evidence of forceful neck compression. This should be considered to have played a central role, if not the central role, in the death."
Cain subsequently returned to the dock as a series of agreed facts were read to the jury later on in the afternoon session. He then largely sat with his head bowed, wearing a shirt and tie and sporting short dark hair.
Gordon Cole KC told the court during the prosecution's opening on Monday that Ms Boorne had phoned her mum Cheryl at around 3.30pm on December 23 2022. In this call, she had told her mother "if she didn't hear from her within an hour to call the police, because something was going on".
Around an hour later, a neighbour rang 999 reporting that she could see a woman in an apartment opposite "screaming and climbing onto the window ledge". Mr Cole added: "She said that the female appeared to be shouting at someone inside the flat.
"Courtney Boorne was heard to shout 'please'. She was crying and she was shouting, 'he has all the doors locked and he won't let me out'."
Another witness also called the police to "report a female shouting out of the window, screaming, shouting 'call the police, he's choking me'". Mr Cole said: "She was described by as screaming, and the window was then closed.
"What they couldn't see, of course, was what was going on inside the flat. The only two people inside the flat were Courtney Boorne and this defendant."
Officers then attended the 14th-storey property "very quickly" and had to force entry upon their arrival shortly before 5pm. They discovered Ms Boorne unconscious on a bed in the bedroom with "visible marks to her neck".
She was rushed to Aintree Hospital, but was pronounced dead at 7.02pm. A post-mortem investigation later found that she had suffered a cardiac arrest "because of the asphyxia, the strangulation, the smothering of her by this defendant".
Cain was arrested after being found "crouched down, leaning on an armchair in the living room" with "scratch marks" on his head and face. The 19-year-old had sent a text to his dad saying: "I love you the world, everyone.
"I'm so sorry. Tell everyone."
Cain denies murder, maintaining that he acted in "reasonable self-defence". The trial continues.
