What a sad ending to an entirely sad tale.
19-year-old Matthew Mason has been sentenced to life in prison after he murdered 15-year-old Alex Rodda. Judge Steven Everett, the Honorary Recorder of Chester, delivered the life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years earlier today, according to the Manchester Evening News.
“I sentence you for the murder of a 15 year old boy, something I think you will never ever understand,” Everett told Mason on Monday.
He then added, “What is clear to me is that Alex was a much loved son grandson, brother and also a friend to many young persons. Although I accept he may have initiated contact with you, I am sure you not only responded to it, but actively encouraged a sexual relationship by sending him messages and the image you sent him of your erect penis and a video of you masturbating.”
“In that regard, you clearly encouraged your young victim to involve himself in what was clearly his first real sexual experience. In other words, you groomed him,” the Judge continued.
“He didn’t realise the consequences of what he was doing, you clearly understood this,” Judge Everett pushed further. “In reality not only were you much older, not just in years, but more emotionally mature than him. In the days leading up to his death you send him messages inviting him to have sex in some special or secret place. You deliberately took that heavy wrench and you chose that spot. It was a devastating weapon.”
The investigation and trial of Alex Rodda’s murder has been going on since December 2019, when Rodda’s body was discovered by Cheshire police. The tragedy began, however, when Rodda and Mason first started talking in October of 2019. Their conversation soon turned sexual when Mason drunkenly sent Rodda erotic photos and videos, according to text evidence.
Later, Rodda discovered that Matthew Mason had a girlfriend of two years. Rodda not only notified the girlfriend but also started asking Mason for money in exchange for not posting the pictures online. By the end of November, Mason had paid over £2,000 to Rodda. Then on December 12, Mason lured Rodda to the woods and beat the younger teen on the head.
“I have struggled not to take my own life to be with Alex,” Alex’s dad, Adam Senior, said to the court.
“I don’t look to the future as I can’t envisage a future without Alex,” Lisa, Alex’s mom, added.
Source: The Manchester Evening News,
