A MAN accused of stalking and killing Taunton woman Heather Jordan exchanged 3,200 texts and calls with her in the month before she died.

Martin Corns also arranged to meet victim Heather Jordan at the park where she was killed three weeks earlier at exactly the same time as she was strangled.

Corns and Heather exchanged scores of messages and on one day alone he sent or received 199 calls or texts to or from her.

Many were trying to persuade her to become his girlfriend and some accused her of seeing another man, Exeter Crown Court was told.

They met while both working as early morning cleaners at Boots in Taunton and formed a relationship they described as ‘a committed friendship’ but which did not include sex, the court heard.

Corns allegedly killed her in Lyngford Park, Taunton, as she walked across it on her way from her home in Pickeridge Close to her weekend cleaning job at the Coop at around 5.15am on Sunday, February 18.

The prosecution say he strangled her in a jealous rage after she ended their relationship two days earlier and tore up his love letter.

They say he left his home an hour earlier and intercepted Heather at exactly the spot where the texts showed they had arranged to meet on January 28, three weeks before the killing.

He denies being in the park at all and says he was stealing petrol from cars elsewhere in Taunton at the time.

Corns, 52, of Denmark Terrace, Taunton, denies murdering 34-year-old Heather.

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At the start of the trial Miss Kate Brunner, QC, prosecuting, told the jury that the texts reveal that Corns was obsessed, manipulative and jealous.

Phone analyst Miss Lindsey Menear said Corns used two phones, one of which was with him when he was arrested a few hours after the murder and the other of which was found dumped in allotments near the railway station.

She described calls or texts as events sent to or received from Heather and said there had been an average 87 a day in the month before the killing.

She said there had been 199 on one day alone, two thirds from him to her. The total number of events was 3,200.

Both Corns and Heather worked as early morning cleaners in shops and the first contacts in the day were often before or just after 5am.

Miss Menear said she had examined all the traffic on Heather’s phone.

She said:”I can confirm there were no texts which suggested she had any other relationship or any threats from anyone else.”

Somerset County Gazette:
SCENE: Heather Jordan's body was found in Lyngford Park, Taunton

She said the were threads of texts in which Corns sought assurances of Heather’s loyalty and demanded that she deny having any interest in a supervisor at Boots, named Kevin.

He often referred to her as Princess and in some of the texts she replied that she had feelings for Corns and told him ‘you can trust me 100 per cent’, and ‘for the last and final time, I have nothing going on’.

Miss Menear said on Sunday, January 28, he texted her at 4.32am saying: ”Good morning, my beautiful princess. I am in the park already. If you want to sort this, leave the flat early so we can talk.”

A later message said:”If you give me a chance, I’ll show you I am worthy of your love.”

The trial continues.