MURDER TRIAL UPDATE: '˜If I can't have her, then no-one else will,' said man accused of murdering Natalie Hemming

The jury were told today how alleged murderer Paul Hemming told Natalie's mother if he couldn't have her 'then no one else will' just days before he killed her.

It came after Natalie twice told Hemming in front of her mother Margaret Hammond that she planned to leave him.

In a statement read out to the court by the prosecutor, Mrs Hammond, who lives in Hemel Hempstead, said: “On Saturday April 24 I was with Natalie when Paul begins accusing Natalie of having an affair with someone from work.

“This stemmed from Natalie revealing that someone at work fancied her.

“While I (Mrs Hammond) was in the room she denied having an affair and said she didn’t want to argue with him but Paul continued accusing her of having an affair.”

Mrs Hammond said Hemming was “relentless” in his accusations of her having an affair, even when in front of her children, and wouldn’t let the issue go.

The court also heard that on Thursday, May 28, Natalie’s’s iPhone became blocked after Hemming apparently tried to hack into it to get Mr Dennis’ number.

She added: “ (In the days before she died) Natalie told Paul that it is over and Paul said he would help get her a private rental.

“By the time I got home he had changed his mind.

“I told Paul to keep it amicable for the kids. He said it would never be amicable.”

Mrs Hammond knew something was wrong when Natalie wasn’t answering her phone after the evening of Sunday April 30.

She said she wasn’t the kind of person to disappear and knew something was wrong and went round to the couple’s home in Newton Leys, Milton Keynes, a day later.

Once there, she saw Natalie’s car parked in front of Hemming’s, something which never happened.

There was also carpet in the back of her car which Hemming said was to do with his job in the carpet trade.

He also said there was something wrong with her car’s clutch, which was untrue as it was an automatic, the court heard.

The jury were told Natalie was “enjoying life” before she was killed and was planning on having a career after spending a decade as a housewife.

Mrs Hammond said Hemming didn’t understand this.

The court heard how Intercountry truck and van technician Simon Dennis started a relationship with Natalie shortly before she died.

Giving evidence at Luton Crown Court, he said their relationship became more “flirtatious” around March this year after meeting Natalie a couple of months earlier.

It became more and more physical from the middle of April with the pair “kissing and cuddling” during lunch breaks.

The court heard that Hemming broke into his partner’s phone and took Mr Dennis’ number before taking a screenshot of a photo Mr Dennis posted on his WhatsApp profile.

The court was also told that Hemming met Natalie around 10 years ago in Hemel Hempstead.

She had a daughter from a previous short lived marriage with a man named Matthew O’Connor.

Mr O’Connor would send his daughter presents but Hemming banned him from contacting his biological daughter and he hadn’t seen her since she was six.

Anything he sent her would have to be stored at her grandmother’s house in Hemel Hempstead or disguised so it didn’t look like it came from him.

Before her death, Natalie was in the navy and worked as a nursery nurse before she began working at a Mercedes garage in Milton Keynes.

Hemming denies murder and the trial continues.

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