A woman allegedly murdered by her ex-partner at a luxury Surrey hotel sustained a fractured skull before being strangled to death, a court has heard. The pathologist's evidence revealed the devastating injuries inflicted on Samantha Mickleburgh during what prosecutors describe as a violent attack.
Mickleburgh, 54, from Axminster, Devon, was found dead at the Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot on the morning of April 14 last year. The mother of two had arranged to stay in a twin room with her ex-fiancé James Cartwright the night before because she "didn't want him to feel lonely" on his birthday, Guildford Crown Court heard.
Pathologist reveals cause of death
Dr Robert Chapman, who conducted the post-mortem examination, told jurors that Mickleburgh died by "manual compression of the neck" consistent with strangulation. The level of haemorrhaging suggested continuous pressure was placed on her neck for 30 seconds, with prosecutor Louise Oakley playing a stopwatch to demonstrate the duration to the court.
The pathologist also discovered that Mickleburgh's skull had been fractured near her right eye socket while she was still alive. Dr Chapman described this as evidence of "severe force, so at the top end of the scale" when measuring the impact required to cause such an injury.
Multiple possible causes examined
When asked how someone would sustain such a skull fracture, Dr Chapman outlined several possibilities. These included a heavy fall onto a hard surface without protection, a blow with a firm object, or a head being forcibly impacted against a flat surface like a wall.
The prosecutor suggested the injuries could align with Mickleburgh being forced into a wall, causing the skull fracture and possible concussion, before being moved to the bed and strangled. Dr Chapman agreed there was "nothing in the pathology that could undermine that particular sequence" but noted other scenarios were also possible.
Defence claims contradicted
Cartwright had claimed that Mickleburgh rolled out of bed during the night, hit her head on the bedside table, had a nosebleed and later died in her sleep. However, when asked if the injuries were consistent with someone falling from bed and dying naturally in their sleep, Dr Chapman said "no".
The court also heard that a factory reset was performed on Cartwright's iPhone on April 15, before police seized his devices. The blouse Mickleburgh wore to dinner on April 13 was later found in a drawer at a property in Axminster with blood staining that had been "removed or altered in the intervening period, probably by washing".
Trial continues with serious charges
Cartwright, 61, of no fixed address, denies murdering and raping Mickleburgh between April 12 and 14 last year. He also denies one count of controlling and coercive behaviour between May 1 2022 and April 14 2024.
The trial continues at Guildford Crown Court.
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
