A ‘shambolic’ lack of planning and a ‘half-baked’ plan to rob Aaron Pill led to his death rather than any scheme to murder him, Truro Crown Court has been told.

Kane Coggin and Liam Bastow, both with addresses in Mylor Bridge, are jointly charged with murdering Mr Pill at his home in Tresawle Road, Falmouth on May 4 this year.

Coggin, 27, of Meadowbank and Bastow, 24, of Avalon Close have admitted manslaughter but deny murder.

Prior to the jury being sent out this morning, Liam Bastow’s defence barrister Joanna Martin QC, told the jury that her client had never planned to kill Aaron Pill as evidenced by the pairs complete lack of planning.

“This plan is a little ropey isn’t it?” she said. “Coggin went home, got two caps, a knife and scarf and there was some sort of vague plan that Kane Coggin would knock over Aaron Pill whilst Liam Bastow grabbed some bags of cannabis and run. They couldn’t organise a lift there, they had to arrange a lift with 27-year-old Coggin’s mother.

“Liam Bastow wasn’t properly disguised and didn’t have gloves. They didn’t even have the planning skills to take a bag with them to put their stolen goods in. But a failure to take a bag could mean that they hadn’t in fact planned to steal anything. As the prosecution suggested more evidence they didn’t intend to steal.

“Is the failure to take a bag conclusive evidence on which you can be sure that they never intended to rob? Or is it equally evidence of their complete and utter shambolic lack of planning?

“You may think if they had been successful with their half baked plan to rob Aaron Pill, that running down the street in quiet Covid times throwing away the Kilner jars in the trees and stashing the cannabis down their trousers would have been an instinctive response.”

If, she said, the plan was to attack Aaron Pill why didn’t Bastow have a weapon to cause Aaron Pill really serious bodily harm.

She said the prosecution wanted the jury to believe that because two knives had been found at the scene they must have both gone armed.

She said her client had been telling the truth and there was absolutely no evidence of him ever having a weapon. He didn’t have a knife because there was never a plan to cause Aaron Pill serious bodily harm.

The jury is currently out considering its verdict.