Man found guilty of murdering his cousin with an axe in Bexhill

  • ITV Meridian's James Dunham reports

A man has been found guilty of murdering his cousin with an axe

Rita Lambourne, 58, was found "fatally wounded" at an address in Bayencourt South, Bexhill, East Sussex, on 12 February this year.

Ms Lambourne’s cousin, Donald Excell, 49, of Seabourne Road, Bexhill, has been found guilty of her murder.

Rita Lambourne, 58, was found "fatally wounded" Credit: Sussex Police

The prosecution alleged that Excell came in through an unlocked back door before striking Ms Lambourne at least four times with an axe.

Ms Lambourne and Excell fell out more than a year before the attack after Excell decided members of the family were facilitating a paedophile ring, the court heard.

Earlier in the trial, on 4 December, jurors heard from Ms Lambourne’s sister, Claire Haldane.

"He liked to be more intelligent and have the last word but my sister would always challenge him and that he didn’t like," said Ms Haldane.

Ms Haldane also told jurors about an argument where Excell had been "raging" and hitting her sister’s car.

  • Jurors watched CCTV in court, in consecutive order which shows, colour footage of Donald Excell in a shop days before the murder, black and white footage of the murderer - entering and leaving with axe in his hand. Excell disputes that it was him in the CCTV. Credit: Sussex Police.

"She said she was scared, she was terrified, she wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but she wouldn’t show him she was scared," said Ms Haldane.

For the majority of the murder investigation, police were unable to find the axe, or the clothes the killer is seen wearing on CCTV.

In September, some teenagers fishing just north of Bexhill found a rucksack in the water with clothes and the sheath of an axe weighed down with a sandbag, the court heard.

The axe itself was found later after a police search of the area.

Police asked the public for their help to locate a rucksack believed to be connected to the incident. A rucksack was later found in a pond. Credit: Sussex Police

The defence made its case on Wednesday (17 December) which heard from an expert giving evidence in the analysis of phone data.

Chris Walsh said Excell's phone had data activity for six hours in the Hastings area that would theoretically cover the time of the incident in Bexhill.

However, he also told the court a phone user does not need to be present for the device to connect to a phone mast.

A hat, axe sheath, a grey jumper and blue jumper were recovered from a north face bag, found by teenagers at a pond on 13 September. Credit: Sussex Police

The court heard on the previous day, that Excell would not be called by his lawyer as part of the defence case.

Forensic scientist Suzanne Winter said there was "no indication" that Excell’s was one of the DNA samples found on the axe.

However, she also told jurors that Excell’s DNA was found on Ms Lambourne’s fingernails after the attack, along with samples from two unidentified individuals.

An axe was uncovered by police during searches around the area. Credit: Sussex Police

The jury heard how Ms Lambourne had been on the phone with her partner moments before the attack started and he heard shouts as the phone was dropped, the court heard.

Her partner then called Ms Lambourne’s daughter, Lucy, who in turn called her aunt, Ms Haldane, to go and check on Ms Lambourne.

Ms Haldane discovered her sister in the front room of her house and started CPR.

Lucy Lambourne remembered her aunt saying: "Oh my god, you need to get down here, mum’s been smashed up, love, call an ambulance."

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