A POLICEMAN has told a York murder trial how he followed a trail of blood and found a fatally wounded dad-of-five lying in his wife’s garden.

PC Simon Fennell said there was “clear evidence of a trail of blood” which led him the body of Mark Webb, 40, in the rear garden of Susan Webb’s home in Acomb.

She stands accused of taking part in a cover-up over the death.

Mr Webb had suffered what was described in Leeds Crown Court yesterday as “a deep wound” to the neck, and was discovered lying in a pool of blood on the afternoon of March 4.

PC Fennell said he had been called to the home of Kerry Munton in Stuart Road, after Mrs Webb, called 999 when her estranged husband turned up there drunk asking to see his children.

Mrs Webb was at the home of Ms Munton, who was a friend of hers.

The two women told PC Fennell they believed Mr Webb had been bleeding in an alleyway at the back of the house and they had cleared it up.

PC Fennell said: “Almost immediately I saw blood spatters. I deemed it was a significant amount from a significant injury and I followed the trail of blood.”

The trail led to the nearby garden of Mrs Webb’s home in Middleton Road.

“There I found the body of Mark Webb,” he said. “There was no movement at all. There was no pulse in his neck or his wrist.”

The officer attempted CPR and tried to limit the loss of blood from Mr Webb’s neck until paramedics arrived.

But Mr Webb was pronounced dead on arrival at York Hospital.

In a statement read out in court, York Hospital consultant Gary Kitchen said: “I realised from the moment I saw him that any attempts to resuscitate him would be futile.”

Brian Cox, 29, whose address has been given as Bede Avenue in Clifton, denies murdering Mr Webb.

He was arrested on the day of the incident when he turned up at Ms Munton’s home and was questioned by police. It has been claimed Mr Webb was unhappy about a relationship between Cox and his former wife and believed it could prevent him gaining access to his children.

Susan Webb, 30, denies three charges of perverting the course of justice. A third defendant, Dawn Coates, 49, of Chapel Terrace in Acomb, also denies one charge of perverting the course of justice.