Screaming and shouting heard from home of murder suspect in days after alleged killing

Lorenzo Simon is accused of murdering Michael Spalding along with his partner Michelle Bird. Mr Spalding's body was found dismembered in two suitcases in a canal in Smethwick.

At a trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Simon's neighbour in Oxford Road, Smethwick, Fathema Mahmud told a jury of a disturbance from the defendant's home following Mr Spalding's death on April 26 last year.

She said she had to bring her daughters downstairs from their bedroom so they did not have to hear the noise because the upstairs room shared a wall with Simon's home.

Mrs Mahmud said: "There was shouting and swearing and my daughters were scared so I brought them downstairs so they could not hear so clearly."

She described the noise as like 'shouting before fighting' and said she believed Simon was the man doing the shouting, having recognised his voice from times when she spoke to him.

Although she could not hear exactly what was said, she added she heard the swear words being used and the shouting happened two or three times a week during the day or in the middle of the night.

However, she said the shouting stopped 10 to 12 days before a police tent appeared in the front garden of Simon's home on May 11.

Her husband Kafil Mahmud told the jury he would hear Lorenzo Simon shouting 'four or five times a week.'

However, the shouting stopped two weeks before police visited the property in Oxford Road, Smethwick.

The trial also heard from an estate agent who was shown video footage of Simon and his alleged victim painting and dancing to music.

He was filmed on a mobile phone decorating his home in Oxford Road with Mr Spalding.

The defendant, who denies murder, had shown the video to estate agent Abdul Hussain to show how well he could decorate the property.

The defendant, who was claiming disability living allowance, also asked about renting a property in Wattville Road, Smethwick for Mr Spalding.

Earlier during the trial, the jury heard how the couple, who deny murder, made an internet search about murder suspect Amanda Knox.

The court heard previously that the defendants had made internet searches for countries without extradition agreements with the UK and how to apply for a passport.

Bird claimed she helped dispose of the body because she was 'terrified' of Simon.

Both Bird, 35, and Simon, 34, deny murdering Mr Spalding, aged 39.

The trial continues.