Man 'lay in wait for ex-partner'

Louise Evans had two daughters, aged 24 and 27

A man stabbed a teacher to death in the car park of the prison where she worked after refusing to accept their relationship was over, a court heard.

Keith Prest, 48, unemployed and of no fixed address, is accused of lying in wait for Louise Evans, also 48, at East Sutton Park open prison, in Kent.

Maidstone Crown Court was told Mr Prest pestered the literacy teacher after their "stormy relationship" ended.

Mr Prest denies murdering Ms Evans on 12 September 2007.

The body of the mother-of-two from Hothfield, near Ashford, was found lying by her car with 43 stab wounds.

The relationship was characterised by separation, reconciliation and more separation. Alan Kent, prosecuting

Alan Kent, prosecuting, told the jury that after the relationship ended Mr Prest left notes and tried to call Ms Evans but she ignored them.

Mr Kent said he also made threatening phone calls and sent text messages.

He added: "The relationship was characterised by separation, reconciliation and more separation.

"By about the summer of last year and leading up to July, August and early September, so far as Louise Evans was concerned, the relationship was over.

"She moved on, had started seeing another man, but the defendant could not and would not accept that the relationship was over and that this woman who he sought to have control over wanted him to leave."

Traces of blood

Mr Kent said: "Because we have no eyewitnesses and no CCTV of Louise Evans' killer, who we say is the defendant, he was able to escape wholly undetected and unseen."

He told the court police found the trainers Mr Prest had been wearing on the day of the killing in a recycling bin near Wincheap.

He said forensic analysis revealed the shoes contained traces of his and Ms Evans's blood.

The prosecution also claimed Mr Prest changed his clothes and disposed of the knife when he stopped at a motorway service station on the M2 near Canterbury, and lied about his whereabouts.

The trial continues.