Megan Bills: Murder suspect was fulfilling 'sexual fantasy’

The defendant allegedly told his mother that the death came after the teenager asked him to strangle her during sex in his room at a hostel for former offenders in Highgate Road, Brierley Hill, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

She had ended a three year relationship with Joshua Edwards, in March just weeks before the prosecution claim she was murdered. He told the jury their sexual relationship had been 'normal' and never involved violence. "Nothing like strangulation ever took place," he declared.

Mr Crispin Aylett, QC, prosecuting, suggested: "Rather than fulfilling some sexual preference of Megan's, the defendant had, in fact, been playing out a sexual fantasy of his own. A former girlfriend of his has said that, in the course of their relationship, the defendant had asked to strangle her. She refused."

• MORE from the trial: Murder accused 'left body to rot inside cling-film wrapped wardrobe'

He continued: "What may have begun consensually ended in a violent sexual attack. This is borne out by the fact that Megan's blood was recovered from a shirt which the defendant had placed in a dustbin outside the hostel."

The victim, who was no longer living at the home of her adoptive parents, knew other people at the hostel but met Foster for the first time on April 16 - Easter Sunday - the day she died, it was alleged.

Foster claimed he left the victim lying on the bed after she 'passed out' during sex and spent the night at his sister's home before returning the following day when he was captured on CCTV carrying a suitcase that appeared to be empty into the hostel, the court was told.

Mr Aylett maintained: "We suggest his original plan must have been to get Megan's body away from the hostel. Whether it was the prospect of having to dismember the body, whether it was fear of being caught on camera, or a combination of the two, his nerve failed him and Megan's body was left in the wardrobe."

It was not found until May 4 after hostel staff detected a foul smell and discovered the body in the wardrobe that had been covered with cling-film to accelerate decomposition and 'make it harder to see what he had done to Megan,' declared the prosecutor.

Foster, whose fingerprints were found on the cling-film, admitted preventing the lawful burial of Megan, the jury heard. It was told by Mr Aylett: "On any view he has behaved disgracefully.

"In the light of what the defendant has admitted, and in the absence of any other evidence to contradict it, you should proceed on the basis the defendant did strangle Megan Bills to death·" He said it was either the result of a violent attack or in the course of Foster achieving his own sexual pleasure.

The defendant denies murder and the trial continues.