Mother lied for accused killer boyfriend, court told

Emma Lucas told police Kevin Hyden was with her at the time 59-year-old office manager Davinia Loynton was being tortured to reveal her PIN number, Stafford Crown Court heard.

It was said that Miss Loynton was finally killed by Hyden after he fractured her skull with a hammer-type weapon and plunged a blade into her jugular vein. Her body was found rolled up in her living room rug by distraught friends and colleagues.

Hyden, aged 35, of Glebe Street, Wellington, denies a charge of murdering Miss Loynton September 20. It is alleged he did it to get cash to fund his drug habit.

Lucas, 39, of Keats Avenue, Stafford, denies perverting the course of justice.

Miss Deborah Gould, prosecuting, claimed Hyden was plundering Miss Loynton's bank account barely an hour after her death and was captured on CCTV on his way to withdraw money using her stolen cards. Miss Gould told the jury that in the three days following the murder, Hyden withdrew a total of £2,770 from her accounts.

She added that Miss Loynton's bank cards and smashed-up mobile phone were later found in the block of flats where Hyden and Lucas were then living, opposite the victim's maisonette in St John's Road, Wellington.

"Why did he have her phone unless he had stolen it from her? Why was he using it so soon after her death unless he killed her?" said Miss Gould.

Hyden was quizzed by police on September 23 and in six separate interviews denied any involvement in the murder. But the court heard how he admitted being in possession of her bank cards and withdrawing money after finding them in a bag outside the flats.

Lucas was arrested on September 23, when she initially told police she and Hyden had been in their flat on the day of the murder.

But Miss Gould alleged that Lucas went on to change her story a number of times, claiming Hyden had been out for an hour and came back with the mobile phone, that she and Hyden had been out and found the mobile phone on the grass and that the bank cards had been found the following day.

In a final interview on November 4, her story changed yet again, the court heard, this time being that Hyden had gone to the chemists at around 9am and returned 20 minutes later and then that the pair had gone out at midday and found the mobile phone.

"The prosecution say Lucas did her best to cover for her partner," said Miss Gould. "She provided police with an account to provide him with an alibi for the murder and to conceal his real moves in the days that followed.

"The murder of Davinia Loynton is shocking in its calculated brutality. The prosecution say you will have no difficulty, having heard the evidence, to determine that Hyden was her killer.

"Lucas's accounts were given with the sole purpose of protecting her boyfriend - the Crown do not suggest she was party to the murder, but by providing a false alibi she has impeded the progress of the police investigation and perverted the course of justice."

The trial is continuing.