A 41-YEAR-OLD man accused of murdering former Colne teenager Kim Newson was often alone with her in her flat, a court heard.

Miss Newson's boyfriend Jason Brown, 30, told a jury at Lincoln Crown Court that Stephen Charles Hughes was an almost daily visitor to the Lincoln flat he shared with the 18-year-old.

Hughes, of Monks Road, Lincoln, is accused of bludgeoning her to death with an axe on March 4 last year and cutting her body into pieces before dumping them in a river.

The trial is expected to last a month. Mr Brown, who was serving a five-month prison sentence for driving while disqualified when his girlfriend was allegedly killed, told the court he often returned home from the probation course he attended three times a week to find Hughes in the flat with Miss Newson, who was five months pregnant.

The court heard how Hughes had been supplied with amphetamines by Mr Brown but he denied that he and Hughes had an agreement for the defendant to wait in the upstairs flat while Mr Brown fetched the drugs.

Mr Brown identified a black holdall that had been pulled from the River Witham containing body parts of Miss Newson as belonging to Hughes. He was also shown a bicycle fork and handlebars that the prosecution alleged Hughes used to weigh down the bag to prevent its discovery.

Mr Brown said he had seen the bag in Hughes's downstairs flat, down by the settee near the front door. He also said Hughes appeared "nervous" when he visited the flat three weeks after Miss Newson's disappearance.

The court heard how Mr Brown was released from prison on an electronic tag on March 25 and after visiting friends, went back to the flat to see if he could find out any information about his girlfriend's whereabouts.

He said he spoke to Hughes, who stood in the doorway blocking his way into the hallway common to both flats.

Mr Brown said: "I asked him what had happened, if he knew where she had gone. He said no he didn't. He went and stood covering the doorway so I couldn't get in. Then he went back in, came out and handed me my letters."

Earlier the court heard from Miss Newson's separated parents Wendy and Barry Newson, who said he felt Hughes acted in a familiar way when he had met him at his daughter's flat.

Mrs Newson has moved from Colne to Burnley. Mr Newson, who kept a three-day vigil at the Monks Road flat after his daughter disappeared, told the court that Hughes told him he heard his daughter come home the day after she went missing.

He became concerned the day after she had failed to turn up for a meeting with him on March 5 last year. Mr Newson said he discovered that some of his daughter's property, including her television, hi-fi, video and CDs, were missing.

Hughes denies murdering Miss Newson, dismembering her body and throwing it in the River Witham in Lincoln.

(Proceeding)