Black Country murder suspect claims never to have met girl
The man accused of murdering a prostitute in the Black Country told a jury he never knew she existed and claimed text messages from his phone to hers were sent by his cannabis dealer.
Matthew Cherrington, aged 32, denies the murder of Lidia Pascale.
Her body was found in a wheelie bin 100 yards from his home in High Street, West Bromwich, where she was last seen alive.
The Romanian-born 26-year-old received up to 11 blows to her head before being dumped in the bin.
Giving evidence at Birmingham Crown Court, father-of-three Cherrington said he never knew Ms Pascale existed. He told the murder trial he had never met or contacted her and denied text messages sent to her from his phone were sent by him.
He said he had never contacted a sex worker or invited one to his home.
Cherrington told the jury a man he used to meet regularly to buy cannabis from, had used his phone 'loads and loads of times' and that it was this dealer who had contacted Ms Pascale in the hours before her disappearance.
The court heard how Cherrington had taken the day off work on November 19 last year as he had a doctor's appointment in the morning.
During the course of the day he met several times with his cannabis dealer, who he said came and went from his flat.
Cherrington said: "It was not the first time he used my phone. It was no big deal."
He said he remembers there being phone numbers in his call and text log that he didn't recognise but that he didn't think much of it at the time.
"I knew he was texting somebody. In hindsight I should have read through the messages," he said.
Asked by defence solicitor Patrick Harrington if he had ever abused a sex worker he said no and he also denied ever having contact with a sex worker.
The court earlier heard about the breakdown of Cherrington's four-year relationship with the mother of his children two months before the alleged killing.
He said they had began to argue about small things and that she moved out suddenly, taking the children with her.
But Cherrington, a former Langley High School pupil, said their relationship was amicable after the split.
Earlier in the trial, the jury heard spots of blood were found in on the cellar door, in the bathroom, in the hallways and on a fence at the rear of Cherrington's house.
Forensic experts also said they found evidence of wiping in an attempt to remove blood, including on the inside of the bathroom door.
The trial continues.
