The soul singer Joss Stone says she was at home the day two men were arrested nearby and then charged with plotting to rob and decapitate her.
The suspects, Junior Bradshaw and Kevin Liverpool, were arrested in June 2011, close to the singer’s house after suspicious neighbours reported them to police. They never reached her house.
Prosecutor Simon Morgan earlier told the jury the pair, aged 32 and 35 respectively, set off from their home in Manchester for Stone’s house in Devon with a samurai sword, knives, a hammer, black bags and gloves. The men were allegedly part of a gang that hatched the plot, but other members could not be traced.
Morgan said that handwritten notes found in the suspects’ car made reference to “decapitate,” another read “Jocelyn RIP,” and a further note said, “Once Jocelyn’s dead… find a river to dump her.”
The motive for the plot was not clear, but Morgan said the men may have targeted Stone for her money or because they disliked her links with the royal family.
The notes indicated that the pair disapproved of Stone being invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding in 2011, he said.
Stone told the court she was at home in Devon on the day that two men, who are accused of plotting to rob and decaptitate her, were arrested close by, The Guardian newspaper reported.
The singer, 25, said she had an alarm at her house but did not use it very often. Her door did not have a lock on it at the time – it did now.
“I’ve lived in Devon for a long time and nobody really shuts their door,” she said.
“Apart from someone [the police] coming around to say someone is trying to kill me, it was a really nice day,” The Guardian reported she told the court.
Stone said the property was an “open house” for family and friends.
The defendants deny the charges. The trial continues.
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– AP
