Alex Rodda death: Cheshire murder accused 'questioned his sexuality'

A teenager who killed a schoolboy after paying him £2,000 to stop him revealing their affair was querying his sexuality and felt "suicidal", a jury heard.

Matthew Mason, 19, admits fatally beating 15-year-old Alex Rodda with a wrench in woodland in Cheshire on 12 December 2019 but denies his murder.

Giving evidence at Chester Crown Court, Mr Mason said he began to wonder if he was bisexual after Alex messaged him.

He told the jury he had never previously doubted his sexuality.

"After a couple of weeks of receiving messages from Alex Rodda, I started questioning this and thought whether I was bisexual maybe," he said.

Mr Mason, from Ollerton, told the court he and his girlfriend, Caitlyn Lancashire, had broken up after Alex contacted her and told her Mr Mason was messaging him.

He said he wished things had worked out with Miss Lancashire, with whom he said he had been in a relationship for about two years.

"We had a lot of happy memories together," he said.

"I regret making mistakes I made and it still upsets me now."

Mr Mason began crying as he said that, in the weeks leading up to the killing, he struggled to sleep.

Asked by Gordon Cole QC, defending, how he was feeling about his life at the time, he said: "I did start to feel suicidal."

Mr Mason, who was studying agricultural engineering at Reaseheath College, told the jury he accepted that his actions led to Alex's death and that now made him feel "ashamed".

He said Miss Lancashire had visited him in prison, he had confessed to her that he killed Alex, and he had encouraged her to go to the police.

"I didn't want her to get in trouble for withholding valuable evidence," he said.

The trial continues.

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