Prosecutors: Killer, 18, Lured 15-Year-Old Victim into Woods with Sex, Murdered Him

An 18-year-old suspect accused of murdering a 15-year-old boy lured him into the woods in Cheshire, England, with a promise of sex before clubbing him to death a year ago, the prosecution in the case charged in court.

The court was told that the body of Alex Rodda was discovered in a state of partial undress the day after Matthew Mason allegedly beat him to death with more than a dozen blows from a wrench, reports UK newspaper the Manchester Evening News. Forensic evidence suggested that the killer had gripped Rodda by the neck while battering his head, lacerating his scalp and fracturing his skull. The killing took place on Dec. 12, 2019.

The prosecution said that Rodda's body was discovered with his shirt pulled up and "his trousers and underwear gathered around his ankles," which "suggested that he may have been engaged in some form of sexual activity prior to the attack and thus, may well have been highly vulnerable at that time."

The prosecution alleged that Mason and Rodda "enjoyed an intimate sexual relationship," and said that the killing was driven by blackmail, with the underage Rodda demanding money and threatening to turn Mason, who at the time was an 18-year-old apprentice mechanic, in to the police.

Mason had paid Rodda more than £2,000 (over $2,600 in U.S. dollars) in just a few weeks' time, the court heard.

The prosecution outlined a murder scheme in which the suspect - now 19 - brought Rodda into a wooded area "on the pretense of sexual activity and then murdered him in cold blood," reported the BBC.

He then murdered Rodda, the prosecution said, then took the boy's phone and joined friends for a night out, snapping a selfie that he might have intended to use as proof of an alibi.

But, the prosecution said, Rodda had been in touch with Mason's girlfriend, telling her that Mason had sent him explicit images. The court heard that the same morning Rodda communicated with Mason's girlfriend, "Mr. Mason added 'Alexander Rodda' as a new payee on his bank account," the Manchester evening News story said.

The prosecution also said Rodda's mother had caught her son with "a strange man" in the family house on one occasion, and warned her son to stay away from him. But Rodda, the prosecution alleged, had told at least one other person that he was being paid for sex by Mason, and had stated that he intended to turn Mason in if he stopped getting money.

Prosecutors cited messages they said were sent my Mason in which Mason said the payments to Rodda were "cleaning him out," the BBC reported.