MURDERED teenager Simon Everitt reported an attack by one of his alleged killers hours before disappearing, a court heard yesterday.

The 17-year-old, originally from Escomb, near Bishop Auckland, seemed “petrified”

as he spoke to police officers about the incident last June involving Jonathan Clarke, who denies murder.

The engineering student, who had moved to Yarmouth, in Norfolk, four years earlier, said he had been punched, kicked and chased by Mr Clarke, Norwich Crown Court was told. He also received a number of increasingly menacing texts.

The June 6 meeting with police was one of the last times Mr Everitt was seen alive.

Later that month his burnt and decomposed body was found dumped in a swamp in woodland at nearby Mautby.

Police established he had been tied to a tree, doused in petrol and set alight.

Mr Clarke, 19, from Telford, Jimi-Lee Stewart, 25, and Maria Chandler, 40, both of Great Yarmouth, all deny murder. The court heard Mr Everitt and Mr Clarke had fallen in love with the same girl, Fiona Statham.

Heather Bryson, who Mr Clarke lived with, said Mr Clarke was “head over heals in love with her”.

She had warned Mr Everitt he would be better off without her, but he said he “loved her and was prepared to fight for her”.

A statement from PC Terry Chambers said Mr Everitt told him he had been chased by Mr Clarke and his brother, David.

Mr Clarke had shouted “when I get my hands on you, I’m going to kill you”.

On June 6, Mr Everitt met Mr Clarke, Ms Chandler and another man in a local park to sort out their differences. This resulted in Mr Clarke punching and kicking him.

Mr Everitt reported this to police and had seemed “extremely frightened”.

He was last seen on June 6 and his body was found on June 29. It is believed he was killed the day he disappeared.

The court also heard evidence from Lucy Martin, who lived at the same hotel as Ms Chandler.

She said her boyfriend, Christopher Long, had been approached by Ms Chandler who asked him to “do a job”

for her.

Ms Chandler had also asked Miss Martin if she knew anybody who could get her a gun or some rope.

The trial continues.