BEN BLAKELEY was violent towards Jayden Parkinson, his cousin has told a jury at Oxford Crown Cour today.
Prosecutor Richard Latham QC asked 21-year-old Faith Kennedy about her memories of last year when she lived in Christchurch Road, Reading, and the couple came to stay.
She told him the 17-year-old Jayden’s relationship with Blakeley, who admits manslaughter but denies murder, made her unhappy.
He asked her: “Did you see how Ben treated Jayden?”
She replied: “I was in the bedroom and I would hear noises, as if he had his hands round her neck.
“She would walk in afterwards crying and she would have red marks where he had strangled her.
“One time she was in the bathroom with her and he would throw her about and hit her head on the shower.
“I could hear it in the other room.”
Mr Latham asked: “Was Jayden a happy or unhappy girl during this period?”
Miss Kennedy said: “When Ben wasn’t around she was happy. Through she was crying a lot.”
Jayden's body was found buried in All Saints' Church in Didcot on December 18.
Blakeley, 22, has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice along with a 17-year-old who allegedly helped him bury his victim’s body and denies preventing a lawful burial.
The trial continues.
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