by Keith Hunt

A man hatched a plot to kill a girlfriend he believed was pregnant because he saw it as the only way of ending the relationship, a court heard.

With his friend Tom Fuller hiding in the boot of his car, Adam Whelehan drove 23-year-old Natalie Jarvis to Swanley Village one evening.

Whelehan, 23, parked and walked off down the road with Natalie, where he cut her throat and left her dying, it was alleged.

Natalie, who was wearing pyjamas, a dressing gown and slippers, suffered more than 20 wounds. She died soon afterwards.

“In the summer of last year, Adam Whelehan was in some form of relationship with Natalie Jarvis,” prosecutor Ian Acheson told Maidstone Crown Court.

“By September 2012, he was making it clear to friends, and in particular to Tom Fuller, that he wanted out of the relationship and the only way out he could see was to kill her.”

On the evening of October 3 Whelehan and Fuller, also 23, were drinking with friends in Sidcup. Whelehan texted Natalie and arranged to collect her from her home in Swanley to take her for a chat.

He arrived at her house at about 10.30pm in his Renault Clio hatchback and drove her to Swanley Village. Fuller was hiding under the parcel shelf in the boot.

A police cordon in Swanley village after Natalie's death

Whelehan and Natalie walked off along Swanley Village Road. A few minutes later Whelehan returned alone, covered in blood, and was driven away by Fuller.

“By that time Natalie lay dead on the road with multiple stab wounds to her throat,” said Mr Acheson.

“The prosecution case is Mr Whelehan drove Natalie to Swanley Village that night as part of a plan to get rid of her and murder her.

“His plan was one Mr Fuller encouraged and played a part in that night as support or back-up in the car.

“For his part, Mr Whelehan accepts he did kill Natalie but says that what he did to her that night he did in lawful self-defence.

“Mr Fuller’s case is that whatever Mr Whelehan did to Natalie was nothing to do with him - he was not part of the team.”

Whelehan, of Roseberry Avenue, Sidcup, and Fuller, of Oakley Drive, Eltham, South East London, deny murder.

The trial, which is expected to last four weeks, continues.