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Susan Whiting murder: Wife was 'like slave' to accused

A man accused of raping and killing his wife's friend was controlling and treated his partner like a 'slave', a court heard.

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Steven Beards, aged 35, would crawl through the front garden on his hands and knees like a 'commando' to spy on Julie Beards, 34, as well as delete family members from her Facebook page, a jury was told.

The couple are both on trial for the murder of 20-year-old Susan Whiting in Walsall last August. They deny the charge.

On Tuesday, Matthew Herbert took the stand and the court heard how he and Mrs Beards had become very close seeing each other almost every day.

The jury was told that he helped set up a new Facebook account for Mrs Beards because her husband had gained access to her original profile on the social media site.

He said: "He (Steven) kept blocking them (family members) and really slagging her brothers off all the time and saying things like, 'If I see him I'm going to smack him in the face'."

On further cross-examination, Mr Jo Sidhu QC, defending Mrs Beards, relayed Mr Herbert's own previous statements to police back to him and said: "You said over the last couple of weeks her (Julie) behaviour has changed a bit and she has started coming around less and less. She kept saying she had got to get back to him (Steven) and cook his dinner. You told her to get rid of him because he treats her like a slave. She seemed to be at his beck and call didn't she?"

The couple are also accused of drugging Ms Whiting before killing her after sleeping agent Zoplicone was found in her blood even though she was not prescribed it.

Mr Herbert had been given a repeat prescription of the drug but had stop taking it.

The prosecution has previously argued Mrs Beards had 'experimented' with its effects on Mr Herbert by lacing his coffee.

The trial continues.

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