Friend 'helped kidnap waitress'

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A man has told a murder jury he helped kidnap a waitress who was taken to a country lane and stabbed before being set alight.

Monika Szmecht, 21, who was from Poland but lived in Liverpool, was held for hours in a van before being killed.

Her ex-boyfriend Anthony Clarke, 27, of West Derby, denies murdering her.

Philip Savin, 29, told Liverpool Crown Court he helped Mr Clarke kidnap Ms Szmecht and terrify her. He has pleaded guilty to kidnap and making threats.

Savin, of Chester Avenue, Bootle, said he and Mr Clarke had met with Ms Szmecht in June last year, shortly after the couple had split up.

He said Mr Clarke became increasingly angry about her contact with other men.

He (Mr Clarke) was shouting at her, raging and raging Philip Savin

Savin said: "He was shouting at her, raging and raging. Then he saw one text message and he slammed on the brake in the middle of a dual carriageway.

"He was sixteen-and-a-half stone and hit the clutch with such force that it immediately broke."

Ms Szmecht, originally from Kloda, near Leszno, Poland, was taken to Mr Clarke's father's home in Walton Village, Liverpool, and forced her into the back of a van.

Trapped in van

It was driven to Mr Clarke's nearby garage business and parked with its rear doors against a wall so Ms Szmecht was trapped.

She was held there for more than four hours. Savin threatened her by holding petrol in front of her in the van.

Later, the prosecution say, Mr Clarke took her to Light Foot Lane, Rainford, where she was stabbed several times before he doused her in petrol and set her alight.

Ms Szmecht crawled to a nearby house for help and, moments before she died, told paramedics her boyfriend was responsible.

Savin denied knowing Ms Szmecht was going to be killed.

He said he showed her the petrol can only because Ms Szmecht was blackmailing Mr Clarke and the pair wanted to frighten her.

Stephen Riordan QC, defending Clarke, told the jury that Savin was originally charged with the murder of Ms Szmecht alongside Clarke and his uncle David Clarke, 46, of Walton Village, Liverpool.

Mr Riordan said last week Savin and David Clarke had agreed to give evidence for the prosecution in exchange for lesser charges.

Savin has also pleaded guilty to assisting an offender.

The trial continues.