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| Man 'murdered out of perversion' | Man 'murdered out of perversion' |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| A musician killed a Brighton teacher to satisfy an interest in strangulation and violence towards women, jurors at the Old Bailey have heard. | A musician killed a Brighton teacher to satisfy an interest in strangulation and violence towards women, jurors at the Old Bailey have heard. |
| Graham Coutts, 39, denies the murder in March 2003 of Jane Longhurst, 31, who was originally from Reading, Berkshire. | Graham Coutts, 39, denies the murder in March 2003 of Jane Longhurst, 31, who was originally from Reading, Berkshire. |
| Jurors have been told that the case is a retrial. | Jurors have been told that the case is a retrial. |
| Prosecuting, Philip Katz QC said Mr Coutts, of Hove, Sussex, had a "very long-standing and perverted sexual interest in violence to women". | Prosecuting, Philip Katz QC said Mr Coutts, of Hove, Sussex, had a "very long-standing and perverted sexual interest in violence to women". |
| He said: "Graham Coutts killed Jane Longhurst and he did it in order to satisfy a very long-standing and perverted sexual interest in violence to women and in particular the killing of women by strangulation." | He said: "Graham Coutts killed Jane Longhurst and he did it in order to satisfy a very long-standing and perverted sexual interest in violence to women and in particular the killing of women by strangulation." |
| Mr Coutts has pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming that the special needs teacher's death was an accident. | |
| 'Body in storage unit' | |
| Warning jurors they were likely to find parts of the case extremely unpleasant, Mr Katz told them Mr Coutts "did not immediately dispose of the body". | |
| The lawyer claimed Mr Coutts kept it for about 11 days "possibly somewhere in the same house where he was living with his then-partner". | |
| Mr Coutts then moved the body to a storage unit in Brighton, which he hired in a false name, and kept it there for almost another month, visiting "regularly every few days", jurors were told. | |
| "Ultimately staff working in that business, as you would expect, began to be extremely concerned about the smell," Mr Katz said. | |
| Mr Coutts then decided to move the body to secluded woods - Wiggonholt Common near Pulborough - and there he used petrol to set fire to it, but the blaze was seen by a passing driver, the jury was told. | |
| Mr Katz claimed Mr Coutts repeatedly misled police after Miss Longhurst's disappearance. | |
| He said: "The defendant was amongst those who were spoken to by police. | |
| "He lied over and over and over again about not knowing where she was." |