THE friends of killer Barry Stone have given evidence this morning at the inquest of 22-year-old care assistant Nicola Sutton.

Andrew Vosper, from Dallam, who is also known as BFG, told the inquest that Stone, who he had known for two years prior to his suicide, had said four or five times since his release from prison in August 2006, that he intended to kill Nicola.

Mr Vosper said his best friend could not understand why Nicola had wanted to put him in jail.

He added: “He used to go on about how much he loved her. He would say he wanted to kill her and then he would change his mind and go on about all the good times and how he could not live without her.

”Sometimes I thought he was saying it because he was sniffing cocaine or because he was angry at the time.”

Mr Vosper said Stone had been disturbed by Nicola making contact with him after he was released from prison.

Reading Mr Vosper’s statement given shortly after Nicola’s muder, Cheshire Coroner Nicholas Rhienberg said: “Baz was saying why did she contact me? I was going to leave it at that. I was going to move on but now I can’t let that happen.

“If I can’t have her no-one can have her. She’s my Nicola. I’m going to kill (her).”

He told the court he did not actually believe Stone would fulfill the threats but recalled an incident at one of Nicola’s friend’s homes on Poplars Avenue in Orford in 2005, where Stone had gone ‘mad’ in a sinister premonition to the events of September 26.

Mr Vosper said Stone had been wielding a knife and held the group hostage saying he was going to kill everyone in the house.

Nicola had managed to call police and had escaped before they arrived but Stone was not arrested as he said the ‘minor disturbance’ was over and officers did not investigate further.

The inquest also heard evidence from James Thomason, Matthew Hough and Alistair Williamson, who owned the flat on Whittlewood Close in Gorse Covert where the murder took place, as well as James Mellor the assistant manager of The Poacher’s pub in Gorse Covert where the group had met before going off to Mr Williamson’s flat.

Mr Williamson’s neighbour Candice Martin also recalled the incidents of the night and told the inquest she was awoken by girls’ screaming before Stone, who was ‘dripping in blood’, forced his way into her home saying he had killed Nicola and needed her car keys.

The inquest continues.

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