THE blood-stained jacket of a man accused of murdering a father-of-five was washed by his fellow defendant, a court has heard.

York man Brian Cox, 29, has denied murdering Mark Webb, 40, in the Acomb area in March, and is currently on trial at Leeds Crown Court.

Susan Webb, 30, of Middleton Road, Acomb, and Dawn Coates, 49, of Chapel Terrace, Acomb, are also on trial and deny perverting the course of justice.

The court had already heard that Mr Webb died from a 19-centimetre wound to his throat which was two centimetres deep, and had cut through his jugular vein, allowing blood to escape heavily.

Yesterday, the jury was read transcripts from interviews with Dawn Coates, who admitted washing Cox’s jacket after Mr Webb’s death. The prosecution allege it would have had Mr Webb’s blood on it.

During interview, Coates told police she had washed a jacket belonging to Cox after the incident, as she had done on previous occasions, and removed elbow and shoulder pads from the jacket prior to washing it.

She told officers she used stain remover because it had “oil and all sorts of stuff on it”, but denied seeing any blood on the clothing.

When asked whether Cox had mentioned seeing blood or police activity in Middleton Road, Coates told officers “he said ‘yeah, I wonder what’s going on’, or ‘I don’t know’, I can’t remember.”

“He never gave me a weapon. If he had given me a weapon, I’m afraid I’d have been on the phone straight away. If he’d have been covered in blood, I’d have on the phone straight away.”

The court also heard that Mr Webb had a history of “disturbed behaviour” which dated back as far as 1982, and included violence, self- harm and attempted overdoses on drink and drugs.

The trial continues.