A SPURNED suitor murdered his would-be lover after she ripped up his love letter and threw it on the ground, a jury has been told.

Martin Corns allegedly strangled Heather Jordan in a park in Taunton after intercepting her as she walked to her job as a cleaner at 5.am.

Police found her body surrounded by scraps of paper which they pieced together like a jigsaw to reveal a letter from Corns proclaiming his undying love for her.

It read:"I can't wait to spend my life with you. Hopefully, that won't be too long, my darling. Remember, I love you so, so much and always will."

Corns, aged 52, met Heather, aged 34, when they were both working as early morning cleaners in Boots in Taunton.

They started a bizarre relationship which they called 'committed friendship', which was not sexual but involved regular meetings and trips.

The prosecution at Exeter Crown Court say he became obsessively jealous, controlling and manipulative, stalked her, and watched her home.

He also walked her to work even though her cleaning jobs at the Coop and Boots meant leaving home at 5 am.

He sent messages saying he wanted a fuller relationship leading to marriage but she replied that she was not ready to 'take the next step' and told him it was over between them just two days before she was killed in Lyngford Park, Taunton, on February 18 this year.

Heather, who moved to Taunton with her family from Dorchester a few months before her death, lived with her mother and brother in Pickeridge Close and was using the park as a short cut to the Priorswood Coop.

Corns, of Denmark Terrace, Taunton, denies murder. He says he had nothing to do with the killing and Heather must have been strangled by someone else.

Miss Kate Brunner, QC, said police found pieces of paper scattered around the body. She showed the jury a photograph, with Heather's body blanked out, showing them all down one side of her.


READ MORE: Murder trial hears how Heather Jordan was strangled by Martin Corns in a 'jealous rage'


She said: "They were pieced back together and found to be a letter written by the defendant to Heather. It might be described as a love letter and describes his love for her.

"We don't know when it was written but it is likely that Heather tore it up because she did not welcome this message of love and no longer wanted to be in a relationship with him.

"Perhaps the message was given by her to him shortly before he killed her that the relationship was over."

Miss Brunner said there was a trail of scientific and CCTV linking Corns to the killing, including footage of him walking her to work the morning before.

He was seen on CCTV leaving home at 4am and walking towards the park. After the killing he went home, changed his shirt, and walked to his job as a cleaner at a William Hill shop near the station.

On the way he went down a path and threw away a bag in which police found the top he had been wearing earlier and a phone which contained some of the messages to and from Heather.

Items from Heather's handbag and a fingerless glove with Corns's DNA on it were found on his route home.

Her DNA was on the red top and his DNA was on the front and back of her jumper.

Corns initially told police he had got up at 5.20am and gone straight to work at William Hill.

He later changed his story and said he had been out since 4am and had been stealing petrol from cars but not gone into the park.

The trial continues.