AN EXTREMELY vulnerable woman was murdered after she became “trapped in an aggressive, violent and controlling relationship,” a jury heard.
The body of Whitehaven woman Tiffany Render, 34, was found in a bed at the flat she had shared with 50-year-old Paul Irwin on March 22 after he called for an ambulance. He said had woken and found she was not breathing.
A pathologist concluded she died from “massive” blood loss. Irwin denies murder and a sexual assault.
On day one of the trial at Carlisle Crown Court, prosecutor Iain Simkin KC opened the case, telling the jury that Irwin and Miss Render had been sexual partners “for a considerable time” before she died.
Mr Simkin told the jury: “The prosecution’s case is that she was an extremely vulnerable woman who was trapped inside an aggressive, violent and controlling relationship.
“We say it is against that background that Tiffany Render visited Paul Irwin’s property on March 22 and that while she was there, he fatally assaulted her.”
Mr Simkin described the way in which the prosecution say Miss Render died and Irwin’s version of what happened. She suffered “massive internal bleeding,” which Irwin said was accidental.
He said it was the result of consensual activity that had “gone wrong.”
Mr Simkin told the jury: “The prosecution submit that you will be able to reject that assertion. We will invite you to consider the nature of their relationship, the background to this offence, the violence which the defendant previously used upon the deceased and the extreme nature of the injuries themselves.”
He said Miss Render was assaulted with such force that the jury could conclude that Irwin meant to do her “really serious harm.”
The court heard that the prosecution case focused on four distinct events, all of which were linked. These were, said Mr Simkin, “four acts of violence which can be demonstrated by separate strands of evidence, revealing patterns of behaviour which culminated in murder.”
The first incident happened on Monday, July 17, 2023.
At 11:30am that day, Miss Render called an ambulance, saying she was increasingly concerned about Irwin's behaviour.
“Whilst she was on the phone," said Mr Simkin, "the defendant assaulted her; he used a weapon to beat her. You will hear a recording of that call.” Irwin struck Tiffany Render multiple times with a wooden rolling pin, said Mr Simkin.
She suffered marks to her back and an ankle injury. Irwin also pulled her hair, and slapped and strangled her, the jury heard.
He remained in prison until appearing at Carlisle Crown Court on October 13 last year when, after admitting the assault, he was given a suspended prison sentence and released.
The next significant date, the court heard, was February 25, when Irwin again assaulted Miss Render. In a statement, she said she and Irwin had been “in a relationship for 16 months and living together since January 2023.
She explained that, after Irwin was released from prison in October, he exercised “full control” over her life.
Mr Simkin said she described how he controlled her access to money, her contact with other people, and he monitored her actions.
He would interrogate her mobile phone. The barrister said: “He told her what she could or could not eat; and he enforced and reinforced his control over her life by becoming increasingly verbally abusive and aggressive.”
Mr Simkin said: “She told the police the defendant had recently returned to drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and that he was using cocaine.” She then recounted the assault, the court heard.
In that statement, said Mr Simkin, she told police: “Last night, he drank a lot, around 18 cans of beer and was taking cocaine.
“He got angry with me because I asked him to wait for me to finish my cigarette before [engaging in sexual activity]. He didn’t want to wait and started screaming and shouting at me telling me to get out of the house.”
“He said I couldn’t go in any of the bedrooms.
"I tried to remove myself from the situation by sitting by the front door; I thought this would give him some space to calm down. He then walked up to me shouted ‘get the *** out’ and pulled the door open, hitting me on the head which left me in tears.
“He then told me to ‘shut the ** up and stop being pathetic.”
Irwin then called the police and asked that she be removed from his address. Miss Render stayed outside for most of the night, though between 4am to 5am, realising she was outside, curled up beside a bag of her clothes, he kicked her with “his full force”.
She immediately felt pain and was in tears. She then left the area so that he couldn’t hurt her again, she said.
Mr Simkin continued: “At some point, Paul Irwin telephoned Tiffany and ordered her to return to his flat or he would burn the photographs of her children.
“In her statement the deceased says: 'I have said to him that if you burn those photographs then I will kill you; he has then stated, ‘come up here and I will kill you; I’m telling you now that I’ll ***kill you’.”
Police later again went to the property following a neighbour complaint. Miss Render’s statement described how the defendant’s controlling behaviour had intensified since his release from prison.
On March 4, Irwin was given police bail with a condition not to contact Miss Render. Despite this, said Mr Simkin, he continued to contact her. In a statement, she said he repeatedly threatened her, saying that he wanted his flat back.
Irwin told Miss Render that if he could not have the flat, he would burn it to the ground. “She told the police she was “absolutely terrified” to leave the property,” and considered home security measures.
By Thursday, March 7, Miss Render had found safe accommodation at a supported living facility in Whitehaven. A support worker confirmed that there were occasions when she stayed elsewhere.
The prosecution accepted she may have voluntarily stayed with the defendant after securing the safe accommodation.
At 11.09 am on March 22, Miss Render texted a support worker, asking if she could stay out that night.
The worker asked if she would stay with her sisters.
At 10am that day, Miss Render was at Whitehaven’s Coastal tattoo parlour in Queen Street, when a worker asked if she was still with Irwin. She said she was not but then said she did not know when she kept going back to him.
The worker noticed 79 missed calls on Miss Render’s mobile phone.
CCTV footage showed Irwin was at a local pub until 2.40pm and it was accepted that Miss Render arrived at some point at that day at his flat.
Shortly before midnight that day, Irwin called for an ambulance, stating that he believed Miss Render was dead. He said she had bled heavily and that when he had woken up next to her she was not breathing.
The jury heard a summary of Irwin’s account of what he said happened. He claimed he and Miss Render were “involved in consensual sexual activity”.
He claimed that she suffered bleeding and he woke later to find her lying next to him in bed, unresponsive, and he realised she was not breathing.
The trial continues.
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