Murder accused denies involvement
A man accused of burning a Norfolk teenager alive today claimed that if he had been responsible for the murder it would have been a “bloodbath”.Jonathan Clarke, being cross-examined at Norwich Crown Court, denied any involvement in the killing of Simon Everitt in June last year.
A man accused of burning a Norfolk teenager alive today claimed that if he had been responsible for the murder it would have been a “bloodbath”.
Jonathan Clarke, being cross-examined at Norwich Crown Court, denied any involvement in the killing of Simon Everitt in June last year. He insists he had been sitting on Yarmouth beach on the night that co-defendants Jimi-Lee Stewart and Maria Chandler say they helped him abduct and kill the 17-year-old engineering student.
Paul Lewis, Stewart's counsel, outlined what is alleged to have happened. Clarke, 19, responded: “If I was there I'd have told him that I was going to kill him.
“If I wanted him to confess to something I would have done something worse that pour petrol over him.
“If I did do it and I terrorised him I would have chopped a finger off or a toe. I would have dismembered him bit by bit. That's how I would have done it.
“If he said something to me I would have broken his face in with my fist or broken his ribs or used him as a punch bag. It would have been like a bloodbath.”
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The jury has already heard claims by Chandler that she acted as the driver to transport Mr Everitt to Mautby woods, near Yarmouth, where he was then tortured. She said she had not been aware of the plan to kill him and had been forced into co-operating.
Stewart claims he went along intending to scare Mr Everitt but not to kill him. He told police that Clarke threw a match after Mr Everitt had been doused in petrol.
Mr Everitt's badly burnt body was found in a swamp near Mautby woods in June last year. He had been beaten up, tied to a tree, doused in petrol and set alight. Mr Everitt, Clarke and Stewart had all been dating the same woman.
Clarke, from Telford, Chandler, 40, from Lancaster Road, Yarmouth, and Stewart, 25, from Nelson Road Central, Yarmouth, all deny murder.
The case continues.
