Adam Clapham: South Yorkshire man murdered, raped and tortured while imprisoned in cellar, court is told

Adam Clapham, 31, was killed in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, after he and the other man were blamed for £300 going missing from the address, which was used for dealing, Sheffield Crown Court heard on Thursday.

A jury was told how both men were filmed as they were forced to give each other oral sex.

Describing the more than 200 injuries found on Mr Clapham’s body, caused by weapons which could have included a hammer and broken glass, prosecutors said a drug dealing organisation was sending out a message “that they should not be crossed”.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Mark McKone KC told jurors: “This case involves very serious violence and humiliation being used towards two men. The prosecution say they were both tortured. Adam Clapham died as a result of the violence. (The second man) was badly injured but survived.”

The prosecutor said: “Both men were falsely imprisoned in a house and both men were forced to give each other oral sex.”

Mr McKone said the two men were imprisoned and attacked in the early hours of September 18 2022.

Mr Clapham’s body was found by police a day later, naked in a sleeping bag in the dining room of the house where he died.

Mr McKone said: “Drug addicts visited that address to buy their drugs. The two victims were blamed for £300 of drugs money going missing from that address.

“The prosecution say that Adam and (the other man) were punished because the drug dealers believed they had stolen the money. It was also important for drug dealers to send out a message that they should not be crossed.”

Mr McKone said that a pathologist found 214 areas of injury on Mr Clapham’s body, including 52 on his head.

He said: “Most of the injuries were caused by blunt force, probably punches, kicks and or stamps and the use of more than one weapon.”

The prosecutor said some of the injuries to Mr Clapham’s legs are likely to have been caused by a heavy blunt object, “for example a hammer”.

And he said other injuries were caused by a sharp object such as a knife or glass, noting that broken glass was found in a bedroom of the property.

Mr McKone said there was also evidence of burns, scalding and “an irritant substance had been put on the skin”.

The prosecutor told the jury that Mr Clapham had taken cocaine and cannabis in the 24 hours before he died and it is possible he had also taken heroin.

Six people went on trial on Thursday charged with murdering Mr Clapham, which they deny.

They are: Muhammad Ashraf, 18, of Fraser Road, Rotherham; Arbab Yusuf, 24, of Lord Street, Rotherham; Kieron Millar, 30, of Mount Pleasant Road, Rotherham; Robert Crookes, 31, of no fixed abode; Lynette Myers, 39, of Hounsfield Crescent, Rotherham; and a 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named.

They also deny the rape and false imprisonment of Mr Clapham and the another man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as causing both these men grievous bodily harm with intent.

A seventh defendant – Martin Shaw, 44, of Norfolk Court, Rotherham – denies one count of assisting offenders.