BEN Blakeley was today told he was a “cold, ruthless and calculating individual”.

At Oxford Crown Court today prosecutor Richard Latham QC said the 22-year-old he had a cunningly plotted how to bury 17-year-old Jayden Parkinson’s body in a Didcot graveyard.

Blakeley, who denies murdering his ex-girlfriend but admits manslaughter then launched a torrent of abuse at Mr Latham.

But he admitted to the court he was a “nasty c***” and said he had grabbed every girl he had ever been with, many around the neck.

Blakeley, of Reading, says he accidentally killed Jayden, from Didcot, after grabbing her throat in a field near East Hagbourne on December 3.

The former binman, who says he was abused by his own father growing up, sobbed as he recounted the days after Jayden’s death under questioning from his defence barrister Richard Benson, QC in the morning.

Mr Latham told the court that the grave Blakeley measured out at All Saint’s Church graveyard, Didcot, to bury Jayden in was 1.67m – her exact height.

He told the jury the very next morning, December 4, when Blakeley was arrested on a separate charge of possessing indecent images of Jayden on his phone, he began to lie to authorities about what he knew of Jayden’s whereabouts.

Blakeley replied: “I tried to make them think they were wasting their time, I wasn’t with her anymore, that I had no reason to know where she was because she wasn’t my girl.”

Mr Latham said: “You had killed her two days earlier and her body was beginning to rot in the ground.”

At the point, Blakeley began swearing at the lawyer, and Judge Patrick Eccles adjourned the case for five minutes for Blakeley to calm down.

Blakeley admitted that he had continued to lie until Jayden’s body was discovered on December 18.

During the hearing the scientist who tested police samples was cross-examined and said the sample wasn’t big enough to reveal if Jayden was in fact pregnant.

James Walker of LGC forensics told the hearing the sample he was sent had “no suitable tissue for sampling”.

He revealed this under questioning by Richard Benson QC, defence barrister for Blakeley.

Blakeley and a 17-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons admit perverting the course of justice but the teenager denies preventing lawful burial.

The trial will continue on Monday.

  • You can subscribe to get alerts on the Jayden trial direct to your phone via our new WhatsApp service. Text JAYDEN and your full name to 07767 417704. Save the number into your phone as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed

Our top stories