Sex worker was battered to death

A prostitute whose body was found in a shallow grave was beaten to death after a chance meeting with another woman's violent partner, a court heard.

Hayley Curtis, 23, was discovered near Petersfield, Hants, in January 2002 - three months after she was allegedly picked up by Philip Stanley in Norwich.

A court heard Mr Stanley came across her searching for his partner, Fiance Richards, whom he had also attacked.

He denied Miss Curtis' murder and wounding and assaulting Miss Richards.

It was a chance meeting that was to cost that girl her life Prosecutor Graham Parkins, QC

On Thursday, Prosecutor Graham Parkins, QC, told Norwich Crown Court: "In October 2001 after years of violence, indeed torment, at his (Stanley's) hands, she (Fiance Richards) fled with her three children to seek refuge and protection against the man she feared ... would kill her.

"He (Stanley) went looking for her ... he happened upon Hayley Curtis.

"It was a chance meeting that was to cost that girl her life."

Post-mortem examinations showed Miss Curtis, who came from Thetford in Norfolk, suffered serious damage to her spine and ribs.

She suffered a number of injuries consistent with being jumped on while lying down, a court heard.

'Attacked and abused'

But experts "could not be certain" of the cause of death.

Mr Parkins said Mr Stanley claimed Miss Curtis had died of natural causes while they were preparing to have sexual intercourse on a blanket in a field.

He told police he had buried her body near where she died after "digging a grave with his bare hands because he feared he would be 'blamed' for her death".

Mr Parkins told the court it would hear evidence of how Mr Stanley had attacked and abused his now 45-year-old wife Wendy Stanley, from north London, over 10 years.

'Russian roulette'

On one occasion he pointed a loaded gun at her head and played "Russian roulette", Mr Parkins said.

According to the prosecution, Mr Stanley was never charged with assaulting his wife because "she had been too frightened to give evidence".

He met his next partner Miss Richards, 26, at a travellers' sites in Redruth when she was 15, a court heard.

Mr Parkins said during one assault, he attacked Miss Richards with a piece of scaffold pole, breaking an arm and both legs.

The father of at least 13 children is thought to originate from Essex.

Mr Parkins said he had been arrested in Ireland, but had lived at travellers' sites in Redruth, Cornwall, Harlow, Essex, Newark, Lincolnshire, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

The trial was adjourned until next Tuesday.