Mother 'strangled by ladies man'

Mr Dore is alleged to have met a new woman at a nightclub

A young mother was allegedly strangled by her boyfriend so he could start a new life with another woman.

Kim Banyard, 22, from Pitsea in Essex, is thought to have died on her 22nd birthday only 10 weeks after the birth of a baby son.

At the Old Bailey in London on Thursday it was alleged her boyfriend John Dore, 21, plotted her death and recruited his father to bury the body.

Mr Dore claimed he killed Miss Banyard in self-defence.

A jury heard police discovered the young mother's death when officers saw a body being unloaded from a car boot as they passed by while on patrol.

The prosecution claimed Mr Dore and his 44-year-old father Stephen Dore were on their way to a shallow grave behind an embankment at an industrial complex in east London when they were spotted.

Aftab Jafferjee, prosecuting, said John Dore had not "cared for family life" with Miss Banyard and considered himself a "ladies' man".

He had promised the new woman in his life that he was single, with what he had in mind, he soon would be Aftab Jafferjee, prosecuting

He said the couple started their relationship in autumn 2001 and bought a house together in Pitsea the following February.

The court was told Miss Banyard became pregnant and Mr Dore started seeing another woman he met at a Romford nightclub on 28 December 2002.

Mr Jafferjee said: "He had simply begun to tire of her (Miss Banyard), but leaving her was far from straightforward.

"He had promised the new woman in his life that he was single, with what he had in mind, he soon would be."

'Battered and strangled'

Miss Banyard was found dead on 11 January - two days after her birthday.

"She had been manually strangled and battered repeatedly on her head with some blunt instrument," added Mr Jafferjee.

The court was told the alleged attack happened in the bedroom at the couple's house in Travers Way, Pitsea.

The prosecution said after Miss Banyard's death, Mr Dore asked his father to dump the body in a shallow grave.

Mr Jafferjee said: "They despised Kim and this defendant was entirely confident in the assistance he was going to get from his family once he had murdered her."

The jury was also told John Dore and Stephen Dore, of Ayres Close, Poplar, east London, had pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.