Nicola Payne trial: Accused Nigel Barwell 'admitted killing'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-34605782

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Two witnesses have told a murder trial that one of the men accused of killing teenager Nicola Payne confessed to killing her.

Nigel Barwell and Thomas O'Reilly, both 51 and from Coventry, deny her murder.

Mr Barwell told the two men on separate dates that he killed the mother-of-one and asked them both for an alibi, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

Miss Payne went missing in Coventry on 14 December 1991. Her body has never been found.

Witness Paul Southern said he was giving the defendants a lift after overhearing an argument that mentioned a woman at Mr Barwell's house in Coventry in February 1992.

He asked Mr Barwell who he thought the argument was about.

He said he thought Mr Barwell had been "playing away" but Mr Barwell replied: "I wasn't playing about, I did that Payne bird."

Mr Southern told the court the other defendant, Mr Barwell's brother-in-law Mr O'Reilly, added: "You don't know the half of it."

He said he was also asked by a friend of the defendants in December 1991 if he would be willing to say he was with them at a certain time but he refused.

Second witness Matthew Brown said Mr Barwell told him that he and his co-accused had killed Miss Payne and asked him for an alibi.

He told the court he was asked to say they were all together in Rugby the day she disappeared.

Mr Barwell's barrister Mark Dennis QC asked how he killed her and Mr Brown replied: "He didn't say and I didn't ask."

"He said he killed Nicola Payne and asked for an alibi for the day she went missing."

Both of the men's defence barristers suggested the witness accounts were nonsense, the court heard.

The prosecution alleges Miss Payne was abducted and murdered as she crossed wasteland known as the Black Pad.

The trial continues.