'Confession' over murder; COURT: Man denies killing urinator in garden.

Byline: By Ross McCarthy

THE murder of a Midland man bludgeoned to death by someone who caught him urinating remained an unsolved mystery for 10 years.

But the killing preyed on the mind of the attacker, it was claimed in court, who eventually allegedly confessed to what he had done in a letter he sent to his girlfriend.

Andrew Reeves, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Darryl Cowles.

Joanne Hodgkiss, 36, has denied perverting the course of public justice.

Michael Burrows QC, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court, told how in July 1996, 35-year-old Mr Cowles had gone for a night out with friends in Walsall before returning to Brownhills where he was probably going to visit his girlfriend.

He said at one point he had stopped in the garden of a house where Reeves and Hodgkiss lived in Ogley Road to urinate.

"His presence annoyed Reeves to such an extent that he went out to confront Mr Cowles and attacked him," said Mr Burrows.

He said that Reeves struck the victim on the head with a hammer repeatedly causing seven separate wounds, including a fractured skull.

Mr Burrows said Reeves left Mr Cowles with those serious injuries and went back to bed.

The following morning he and Hodgkiss pretended they had just found Mr Cowles in their garden after calling an ambulance, he said. Mr Burrows said the victim died a week later and although Reeves was a suspect he was never charged.

He said the matter clearly preyed on Reeves' mind and he subsequently visited the dead man's girlfriend telling her on one occasion that he could not eat or sleep.

Mr Burrows said that in June 2006, Reeves wrote two letters to Hodgkiss while in prison facing allegations she had made against him referring to "the murder he had got away with".

Mr Burrows claimed: "He wrote 'I have to confess to killing Darryl Cowles.

"It was in one of my violent rages. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time'."

(Proceeding).