WITCHCRAFT enthusiast James Bowman could have lain injured for several hours on moorland above Todmorden before he died, a court heard.

A post mortem examination showed Mr Bowman had been stabbed several times with two wounds to the chest of around 12cms and another to the thigh of more than 16cms. He also received more than 20 blows to the head, a jury at Leeds Crown Court was told. And prosecutors said the evidence showed Mr Bowman could have suffered for up to two hours before he died.

Brothers Nicholas Grundy, 22, and Daniel Delker, 23, teamed up with David Sandham, 24 to kill drifter James Bowman, the court heard.

The jury was told Mr Bowman, 44, met a "very violent death".

He had been in a relationship with Grundy's mother and the three men had teamed up to warn off Mr Bowman.

His body was found fully clothed by a hill walker in woods at Cornholme, close to a campfire on the moors near to a rock formation known as Black Wood near Todmorden, on September 15 last year.

He had been repeatedly stabbed and beaten with around 20 blows, probably from a rock or stone.

At the time of the incident police said they knew very little about Mr Bowman. He had no family connections in the area and was thought to have lived in the Workington area of Cumbria and to have gone by the name of Stig.

In court Mr Bowman was described as a "kept man" and a "womaniser" who had been asked to leave Melanie Payne's home in Ernest Street, Cornholme.

The following night he decided to camp out in the hills above Cornholme.

Meanwhile, Delker and Sandham travelled from their homes in Lancashire and met up with Grundy to carry out the murder of Mrs Payne's spurned lover, the jury was told.

Opening the prosecution case on the first day of the trial, David Hatton QC said: "The warning off of James Bowman could not be more effective as in the event it consisted of killing him."

The jury was read a letter written by Grundy to his mother, who he lived with, describing how her relationship with Mr Bowman was upsetting him.

It said: "All this talk of Jamie (Mr Bowman) moving in when I move out is messing with my head an awful lot.

"Why do I have to be persecuted?"

Mr Hatton told how Mr Bowman moved in with Mrs Payne after they met at a psychic fair through a shared interest in witchcraft.

He said: "He had a very keen interest in witchcraft.

"It was that connection he met Mrs Payne who had a similar interest. They had met at a psychic fair."

Grundy and Sandham, of The Croft, Cleveleys, and Delker, of Shackleton Road, Freckleton, all deny murder.

(Proceeding)