Martin Corns appears in court over Heather Jordan murder at Taunton park

AN 'obsessed and manipulative stalker' allegedly strangled his would-be girlfriend Heather Jordan 'in a jealous rage' after intercepting her in a Taunton park as she walked to work, a court has heard.

Martin Corns has gone on trial accused of murdering 34-year-old Heather, who he met when they were both working as cleaners in Taunton.

Heather's body was found by dog walkers in a shelter in Lyngford Park early on the morning of February 18 this year.

She had been walking from her home in Pickeridge Close to a 5.30 am cleaning job at the Co-op in Priorswood when she was killed.

Corns, aged 52, had been in a strange, non-sexual relationship with her and had become consumed by jealousy and obsessed by the idea she was seeing someone else, Exeter Crown Court was told.

He had allegedly stalked her in the past and was caught on CCTV walking around the streets of Taunton at 4am, around an hour before the killing.

Heather, who moved to Taunton with her family from Dorchester a few months before her death, lived with her mother and brother and held down several cleaning jobs, including those at Boots and the Co-op.

Corns, of Denmark Terrace, Taunton, denies murder.

He says he had nothing to do with the killing and Heather must have been strangled by someone else.

TRIBUTES: The Co-op where Heather worked

Miss Kate Brunner QC said an unusual relationship developed between Corns and Heather when they were working together as cleaners at Boots.

They described it as 'committed friendship' and they went on days out and bus trips together. Corns sometimes walked Heather to work.

Miss Brunner said he became controlling and made her agree to a strict timetable in which she allocated a certain number of hours each day to be with him.

He also became jealous and certain that she was 'being unfaithful' to him. He was obsessed she was seeing a supervisor at Boots named Kevin.

In the three days before her death, Heather exchanged up to 100 messages a day, some of which suggested she was keeping some things about the relationship secret from her family.

Miss Brunner said:"The prosecution case is that he killed her in a jealous rage. He was in a relationship of sorts with her and was obsessed with the notion she was being unfaithful to him.

"She left her home at about 5am. She was due to start work at 5.30am. She did not arrive because as she walked through the park she was attacked and throttled by this man.

"We do not know what happened between Heather and this defendant in the park but we do know what the relationship was like in the days and weeks before it went so very wrong.

"The relationship was not sexual as far as we know but there were many elements of a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. They went on trips together and met in the early hours when he would walk her to work.

"They used the description of a committed friendship, an odd phrase. It meant spending a lot of time together and not having other partners. It may be they were working towards a sexual relationship.

"There was a darker side. Family, friends and work colleagues paint a picture of a man who was controlling, manipulative and obsessively jealous.

"They say Heather was a times deeply uneasy about the relationship and at times was scared of Corns. She told a friend he had made sexual advances and was stalking her."

Miss Brunner said letters showed she had to allocate set times each day to meet him and apologised if she failed to see him enough.

She repeatedly wrote letters or messages denying that she was seeing anyone else.

Corns also spoke to others about the relationship and told a bus driver that he had been watching her home and following her secretly.

Miss Brunner said one reason Heather may have been reluctant to end the relationship was because Corns rented a room to her father.

The trial continues.