TWO men who murdered the brother they blamed for their mother's death went back to chop up his body days after the killing, a court heard.

Mark (27) and James Baigent (30), along with close friend Jeff Woods (36), probably returned to where they had dumped Andrew Scanlan's body to carry out the further "humiliation" of their half-brother, Cambridge Crown Court heard.

After cutting off his head and hands, it is alleged they buried the remains of the father of three in two crude graves in dense woodland on former military training ground land in Surrey.

The court heard how the brothers blamed Mr Scanlan for the death of their mother, Linda Baigent, who died, aged 55, in October 2006.

They felt she had been burdened with looking after Andrew's children after social services took them from his care.

There was also bad blood after Mr Scanlan told police Mark Baigent had carried out an attempted armed robbery in 1998 – a crime for which we was locked up for four and a half years.

The court had heard how, a month after the death of their mother, the Baigent brothers put into action their plot to kill their despised sibling.

It was claimed that on the evening of November 17, 2006, James Baigent drove to Peterborough from Surrey.

He picked up Mark from his home in Medworth, Orton Goldhay, then tricked Mr Scanlan into leaving his home in Dickens Street Eastfield, Peterborough, telling him they had to sort out their mother's will.

The court heard that once in Surrey, the Baigent brothers and Woods stabbed and strangled the 35-year-old to death.

But prosecutor Timothy Spencer QC yesterday told jurors the beheading could have taken place on a different day from the murder.

He said: "The likelihood is that the mutilation of the body was probably not on the night he was killed, that that was later on, because there was at least one, possibly more, visits to the location."

Mr Spencer said the grisly task of chopping off the head and hands off would probably have happened close to the scene of the killing.

"The exact purpose of the mutilation? Only they know," he said.

"One of the reasons would be to make identification of the body – if it was ever found – the more difficult.

"If you have got a body without head or hands, or head and hands without a body, it's more difficult to work out whose body it is."

Mr Spencer also said a friend of James Baigent told police the brothers had asked to borrow an army "trenching spade" some time in November.

Mr Spencer said: "It would have been used on one of the return visits in order to dig out one or more of the holes where ultimately the body would be put."

He added that a woman living close to the disposal site told police she saw a tree surgeon's truck and a red vehicle parked in a lay-by at the end of November.

Woods had worked as a tree surgeon at the time.

Mr Spencer said: "If she's right, that would fit with some sort of return visit to what's called the deposition site – maybe to dig, maybe to check that the body wasn't going to be discovered."

Jurors were also told that James Baigent's wife, Charlotte (28), helped get rid of the trio's bloodied clothes on the night of the murder.

Charlotte – described as a fan of US television crime series CSI – is also alleged to have helped the three clean the interior of the white Ford Escort used to transport Andrew to his death, using techniques gleaned from the show.

The Baigent brothers and Woods, from Bracknell, Berkshire, all deny murder.

Charlotte Baigent denies three counts of assisting an offender and perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.


A JUROR had to be discharged yesterday after she recognised a police family liaison officer in court.

It was felt that there was a risk of the woman juror coming into contact with the officer over the next five weeks.

Eight potential jurors were called in, and a man was selected to make up the jury panel.

All of the prosecution's opening speech then had to be repeated.

Special Report: Andrew Scanlan murder trial