June Jones: Sister says alleged murderer 'controlled' victim
A sister of June 'Katie' Jones has told of the way she was controlled by the man at whose hands she died.
Diane Jones said in evidence to Wolverhampton Crown Court that Michael 'Mickey' Foran was always in his partner's face, pointing and calling her an idiot.
She continued: "When this happened she just looked scared, saying 'yes Michael no Michael' in an overly nice way.
"She never argued back. She said she was scared for herself and members of the family, including me and my sons.
"I suggested she should leave him a lot of times. I also called the police called the police about the way she was being dealt with. Michael never talked. He only shouted. He was controlling.
"She was starved, very, very thin. I don't know why the relationship continued. He threatened her."
Mr Anthony Berry QC, defending Foran, suggested that her weight was down because of her heroin habit and ill health.
Diane Jones replied: "I do not think it would have made her that thin."
But she did agree when he suggested she had not seen the couple for three or four years before the extended family met up to go Christmas shopping at Bescot Market in Walsall on December 9 last year.
June Jones phoned her mother the following day about presents accidentally left in her bag and agreed to travel down to Malvern with them on December 12. It was the last time the family heard from her.
She never arrived and the prosecution believe she died on December 10 but the body was not found until New Year's Eve when police broke into the flat in Wyndmill Crescent, West Bromwich, in which she and Foran, both aged 33, lived.
Home Office pathologist Dr Alexander Kolar, who carried out the post mortem, told the court she had probably lost consciousness after being asphyxiated before being repeatedly stabbed with at least 21 wounds in tight clusters in the neck and left side of her chest.
Foran fled to Liverpool after the body had been found in the bath at the flat but was arrested on January 5.
He admits the manslaughter of June Jones but denies murdering her. The trial continues.
