TWO men accused of murdering Giles Metcalf while he was sleeping rough in Torrington Car Park are applying for the charge to be dismissed.
Dean Lewis, 34, and James Marshall-Gunn, 30, were expected to enter pleas when they appeared at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday (May 5) but both defence and prosecutions requested the hearing be adjourned.
Mr Metcalf, who was 43 at the time of his death, was found dead on March 7 after reports of a fire. Prosecutor Philip Bennetts QC said Mr Metcalfe, who was from the Tunbridge Wells area, died from ‘fume inhalation’. A previous hearing revealed an accelerant was used to start the fire.
It was the first night Mr Metcalf, who was described as a ‘kind and generous’ person by his family, had slept rough as he was waiting for a bed to become free at The Bridge Trust in Tonbridge, a charity which helps the homeless.
Judge Philip Statman heard Marshall-Gunn, of Hadlow Road, Tonbridge, had mental health issues and was currently at the Trevor Gibbens psychiatric unit at Maidstone Hospital. An application for the murder charge to be dismissed had been made through his lawyer Philip Sinclair.
The judge was also told lawyers for Lewis, of no fixed address, had applied for the murder charge to be dismissed.
A hearing to decide the issue will be held on June 19. A provisional trial date has been set for September 6.
