A 'violent and jealous' boyfriend, fearful his aspiring model girlfriend was being unfaithful to him, strangled her in bed - and then received help from his parents to cover up the murder, a court heard today.
Prosecutors say Elliot Turner, 20, 'went absolutely nuts' and strangled 17-year-old Emily Longley following a month of anger and upset over his suspicions she was 'twisting his heart'.
His mother, Anita, 51, and father, Leigh, 57, of Bournemouth, initially told police they had heard Emily talking in their son’s bedroom, even though the prosecution say she was already dead.
Turner said they had argued the night before and she had attacked him, and that when he woke up beside her she was dead.
When arrested he had his passport in his pocket and his bags packed, Winchester Crown Court was told.
Leigh and Anita Turner allegedly removed their son’s jacket from the bedroom when the police were distracted by Leigh Turner dropping his tablets on the floor, with Anita Turner taking it.
Accused: Leigh Turner, 53, and his wife Anita are charged with obstructing the course of justice
Police bugged their house in Bournemouth, Dorset, in the weeks after the alleged murder and heard the pair say they had destroyed a letter that Turner had written.
In evidence read out to the court, Leigh Turner was alleged to have said: 'Elliot f****** strangled her.'
The court also heard that Leigh stated: 'I cannot tell them (the police) about the letter I destroyed by bleach saying he (Elliot Turner) killed her but he didn’t mean it.'
Earlier he had said: 'We have perverted the course of justice by destroying evidence.'
But Anita Turner was heard to say they had been right to do it.
Elliot Turner was heard to say: 'I just flipped. I went absolutely nuts... I just lost it. I grabbed her as hard as I could. I pushed her like that.'
Elliot Turner denies murder and perverting the course of justice, while Anita and Leigh Turner, who run a jewellers in the resort, both deny perverting the course of justice.
