'You are dead'

The mother of Maxine Carr threatened a witness in her daughter's Old Bailey trial after she discovered what was in her statement to police, a court heard today.

Shirley Capp threatened her next door neighbour, Marian Westerman, when she became angry over what she said to officers about Carr's activities in Grimsby, a jury at Sheffield Crown Court heard.

It is alleged Capp told her: "You had better watch your back, you are dead."

Prosecutor Michael Cranmer-Brown told the court Mrs Westerman had originally gone to the police with the encouragement of the defendant after Carr was arrested on suspicion of murder by officers investigating the Soham murder case.

He said her co-operation with the police was originally welcomed by Capp because it placed Carr in Grimsby at the time of the murders and therefore helped to prove she could not have been involved.

But Capp later discovered there were things in the statement she did not like and she threatened Mrs Westerman on May 13 last year.

Mr Cranmer-Brown told the jury that Mrs Westerman was a prosecution witness in the Soham trial and had alleged she saw Carr and Ian Huntley looking into the boot of his car on August 6, 2002.

Ms Westerman's account was relied upon by the prosecution at the Old Bailey trial.

It is alleged the pair bumped into each other shortly after 9am on May 13 last year in Freshney Place shopping centre in Grimsby.

Capp, 61, is alleged to have said to Mrs Westerman: "Stop your f****** cat sh*****g in the garden."

It ended with Capp saying: "Watch your f****** back".

The jury was told that later that morning Mrs Westerman went to the defendant's home in a "bid to smooth the waters".

Capp is claimed to have told Mrs Westerman that her daughter was not crying when looking into Huntley's car.

The jury was told the defendant called Mrs Westerman "a two-faced back-stabbing cow".

Mr Cranmer-Brown said Mrs Westerman came out of the defendant's home "frightened and shaking" and almost in tears.

Giving evidence, Mrs Westerman said Capp told her "you're going to be dead".

Mrs Westerman said: "She said it was all my fault Maxine was in prison.
"She said that I was a f****** liar.

"She also said that in my statement I said that the bodies were in the boot of the car, but I didn't."

She went on: "She said that I was going to be dead. I was going to give evidence against Maxine.

"I told her that I know and I'd been trying to get out of it."