A MAN has denied sexually abusing, then strangling his former girlfriend before dumping her body by a moorland road.

Angela Heyes was killed just days before her 34th birthday, but her former lover, Steven Penn told Manchester Crown Court: "She was a very good friend and we still had a casual relationship.

"I did not strangle her and I had nothing to do with dumping her body."

Penn, aged 37, of Park Road, Bolton, is accused of murdering Miss Heyes at his home in January after she threatened to tell police how he mistreated her.

The jury was earlier told she had been sexually abused with 'something like a bottle' and strangled with a ligature. She had also been hit on the head and her partially clothed body was later found by a cyclist on the road between Bolton and Blackburn.

Mr Charles Garside, prosecuting, said when Penn's home was searched the victim's blood was found on his mattress and bloodstained twine.

But Penn said he last saw Angela a few days before her death. He had found a note from her in his flat and he saw her to return money she had asked him to look after it for her. After working overnight he went home and found his flat in disarray. Bedclothes were on the floor and there was a stain on the mattress.

"I was not sure what had happened but I was frightened," he told the jury. "I thought about the police. I thought how could I explain anything like that."

He said he turned the mattress over thinking the staining might be blood. It did not occur to him it might be Miss Heyes' blood even though he knew she had access to the flat.

"I just did not think about going to the police. I was not thinking about an alibi or anything like that. I just sat on the couch and went to sleep, I was absolutely shattered."

(Proceeding).

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