GUILTY UK - Lucy McHugh, 13, murdered,, Southampton, 25 July 2018

[Alyce]

Hmm. Okay, didn’t expect the hoody to belong to an unknown 3rd party.

so frustrating when we don't hear all the testimony and don't know the relevance.

 

[Alyce]

2:57pm
The trial is now resuming and the next witness is being sworn in.

The witness says her daughter was a friend of Lucy.
She told the court Lucy had said she was scared of the lodger at her home.

The witness said Lucy told her she was not a virgin. She said she was "pretty disgusted".

She said Lucy then tried to change her story to say it was just kisses.


Lucy McHugh murder trial: Suspect told police Lucy was 'obsessed with him'

 

[Alyce]

Now a statement is being read to the court from DS Christopher Bradford.

In it, he says he attended the ground-floor carpark of Ikea on September 17 last year.
He said he located a mobile phone in a brown bag that had been in a locker belonging to Nicholson's brother.

Lucy McHugh murder trial: Suspect told police Lucy was 'obsessed with him'

 

[Alyce]

3:15pm
That is all the evidence that will be heard today.

The trial is expected to resume on Monday morning.



Lucy McHugh murder trial: Suspect told police Lucy was 'obsessed with him'

 

[Alyce]

Winchester Crown Court heard a transcript of police interviews in which Mr Nicholson described how Lucy had an "obsession" with him.

"She would follow me around the house... sitting on my lap, pressing up against me," he said.

He told police he had complained to her mother and mother's partner, adding: "I wouldn't stay at home so I wasn't alone with Lucy."

He said at one point Lucy had said to him, "I'm pregnant, I'm going to tell Mummy you it was you," and had also taken clothes and other items from his room.

Asked if there had been any sexual contact with Lucy, he told police: "Nothing at all."

In the interview he said: "I've heard her say all this dumb stuff constantly," adding he had ignored and blocked messages from Lucy.

"I didn't want to encourage anything," he told police.

Murdered teen 'stalkerish' towards accused

 

[Alyce]

In the interview he said he got rid of his phone in a public bin after hearing the police wanted to speak to him after Lucy's death.

He said: "I buy large quantities of weed from some not very nice people. I would have been the next dead body you found."

Asked why he had burned his trainers, he said he had split them while clearing his mother's shed. He said he had also banged his head while clearing the shed and burned them along with with "all sorts of rubbish".

 

[Legally Bland]

""It got so bad with me sleeping downstairs that I got a room upstairs. It came to the point that when Lucy came in I had to lock myself in my room."

The carer said she would wear his clothes and that her mum would find notes saying she "snuck a man into her room and sh****d him".

He added: "It was going on for such a long time. I was reporting it for so long. It was like an obsession."

Lucy McHugh, 13, 'murderer', 25, told cops she was 'obsessed with him'

 

[Legally Bland]

Nicholson said the day before her death, Lucy had told him on Facebook messenger she would tell her mum she was pregnant and it was his if he did not agree to meet her.

However, he said he refused to do so.

He told police: 'Normally, she would just say "I am going to tell mummy you hit me" or stuff like that. I heard her say this stuff all the time, but never anything to this extent.

'She said she was pregnant, asking for money and she was going to say it was mine if I didn't meet her. I didn't have any money and I blocked her.'

The jury has heard Nicholson 'deleted' a series of Facebook messages between himself and Lucy the night before she went missing in July, last year, and on the morning of her disappearance.

Care worker claims murdered schoolgirl Lucy McHugh 'stalked him' | Daily Mail Online

 

[Alyce]

""It got so bad with me sleeping downstairs that I got a room upstairs. It came to the point that when Lucy came in I had to lock myself in my room."

The carer said she would wear his clothes and that her mum would find notes saying she "snuck a man into her room and sh****d him".

He added: "It was going on for such a long time. I was reporting it for so long. It was like an obsession."

Lucy McHugh, 13, 'murderer', 25, told cops she was 'obsessed with him'

That explains the discrepancy in reports, re SN sleeping on the sofa and SN having a room opposite Lucy's

I wonder when she used to wear his clothing - was it when everyone else was out of the house

 

[Blondiexoxo]

I’m really worried that reasonable doubt is still lingering imo.
Is there any dna? Because I feel like we are missing a ‘smoking gun’ so to speak. I’m hoping that there is more, because the way the defence are dropping RE’s name should be concerning to the prosecution, as an outsider I don’t feel this is in the bag for the prosecution atall jmo..

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Thanks so much for the updates

 

[Edinlass]

The DNA will evidence is usually presented at the end of a trial.

 

[Alyce]

Link for today's reporting

LIVE: Lucy McHugh murder trial continues today

 

[Alyce]

10:31am

The trial of Stephen Nicholson, 25, of no fixed address, resumes today. The trial last heard evidence on Thursday, as the jury did not sit on Friday.

Today the jury is set to hear detailed forensic evidence.

The court rises as the Honourable Mrs Justice May DBE walks into the court. Nicholson is in the dock.

LIVE: Lucy McHugh murder trial continues today

 

[Alyce]

The jury begins by hearing a statement, read out by junior prosecutor Dan Sawyer.

The statement is from a police officer who was at Tanners Brook on August 30, when a bag of clothes, believed to be covered in blood, was found in a Tesco bag.

Reading from the statement, Mr Sawyer tells the jury that the area was sealed off after the discovery, by a member of the police's water search team.

LIVE: Lucy McHugh murder trial continues today


( I had not realised they did not find clothing until a month later )

 

[Alyce]

The prosecution now calls an expert witness, Jessica Adby from Key Forensic Services - based in Norwich.

The court hears Ms Adby was tasked with assessing forensic evidence, including blood on Lucy McHugh's clothing and two small pieces of plastic found at the scene where Lucy's body was found - in a wooded area of Southampton Sports Centre.

Ms Adby now explains DNA to the jury and how forensic experts such as herself carry out DNA examinations.

The jury hears from Ms Adby about different types of blood staining and how they can be used to give characteristics about how the blood was transferred.

Prosecutor William Mousley QC now referrers the jury to a jacket found on Lucy's body, which was examined by Ms Adby.

She is asked if there was any of Lucy's DNA on the jacket.
She confirms there was.
She is asked if there was any of Nicholson's DNA on the jacket.
She said one result showed major contributors of DNA to be from a male and a female but said there was "no evidence" to suggest Nicholson was the contributor.

Speaking about a white top recovered from Lucy, she said Nicholson was a "low level" contributor of DNA.

Speaking about Lucy's leggings, she says that there was DNA from five people on the leggings. She said Nicholson was again a "low level" contributor.

LIVE: Lucy McHugh murder trial continues today

 

[Alyce]

11.06 am

Ms Adby continues to give evidence. The details at this point are graphic and therefore we will not be reporting them.



LIVE: Lucy McHugh murder trial continues today

 

[Alyce]

11.09 am

The court is now referred to two pieces of plastic found near to Lucy's body. Ms Adby says the two pieces appeared to form together and appeared to be "from the butt end of a knife".




LIVE: Lucy McHugh murder trial continues today

 

[Alyce]

Mr Mousley now begins to talk about the items found at Tanners Brook.

The court is shown a picture of a waistband from a pair of underpants, found at Tanners Brook. The waistband is partially burnt.

Ms Adby is asked if they carried out a DNA test on the waistband. She tells the court that the result was unsuccessful. Ms Adby says there were traces of DNA but not enough to obtain a result.

LIVE: Lucy McHugh murder jury set to hear forensic evidence as trial continues

 

[Alyce]

The court is now shown a blue hooded jumper, with blood on it, found at Tanners Brook.

Ms Adby says the hooded jumper was wet and mouldy when found. She is asked if water could impact the quality of DNA. Ms Adby confirms that a combination of water and warmth can degrade DNA.

Ms Adby says the hooded jumper was examined for both blood DNA and wearer DNA. She said the initial results showed "low level mixed DNA results". She said the major contributors appeared to be Lucy McHugh and Nicholson.

But she said that because the bloodstains were "so degraded" that it was not possible to say if the DNA was from the blood of two people, from one person's blood and from another's DNA or from two people coming into contact with the item.

Ms Adby says a computer was used to calculate the likelihood of a DNA match. For Lucy's DNA, she tells the jury that the results showed it was 310 million times more likely that the DNA came from Lucy McHugh and another unknown individual rather than two unknown individuals.

For Nicholson's DNA, she tells the jury that the results showed it was 93 times more likely that the DNA came from Nicholson and another unknown individual rather than two unknown individuals.



LIVE: Lucy McHugh murder jury set to hear forensic evidence as trial continues