A factory worker accused of murdering his girlfriend after hatching a plot with his jealous ex-lover and her uncle denied killing her yesterday.
Rafal Nowak, 31, said he did not murder Catherine Wells-Burr and neither did he have anything to do with arranging her death.
But Nowak did admit he had cheated on his 23-year-old girlfriend by having sexual intercourse with ex-lover Anna Lagwinowicz, 32.
Nowak is accused of murdering the business analyst for her six-figure life insurance policy after allegedly hatching a plot with Lagwinowicz and her uncle, Tadevsz Dmytryszyn, 38. Prosecutors allege he smothered Miss Wells-Burr with a pillow as she lay sleeping in their new home in Chard, Somerset, in September last year.
Lagwinowicz – with whom Nowak is said to have rekindled a romance – joined Dmytryszyn in dumping Miss Wells-Burr's body in her car at a nearby roadside and setting fire to it, jurors were told.
Nowak took to the witness stand for a second day at Bristol Crown Court to deny murdering her.
Peter Blair QC, representing Nowak, asked him: "Mr Nowak, I am now going to come to the big question in this case.
"The prosecution say that you smothered or suffocated Catherine in the middle of the night of September 12 or 13. Did you do that?"
To a packed court room, Nowak replied in a heavy accented Polish accent: "No."
Mr Blair asked: "Did you have anything to do with arranging for Catherine to be killed?"
Nowak replied: "No."
He said that when he left for work on the morning of September 12, Miss Wells-Burr was still in bed and he kissed her goodbye.
But the factory worker, who has a wife and son in Poland, admitted he twice had sex with Lagwinowicz in 2012 – the last time being six days before Miss Wells-Burr died.
Nowak said he first cheated on his girlfriend a few days before his 31st birthday in August. He then had sex with his ex-lover again on September 6 – the day after Lagwinowicz's 32nd birthday – in her car as they returned from a trip to the beach at Lyme Regis, Dorset. He explained that he met Lagwinowicz that day to give her the last of the money he owed her, which he said was about £30.
Nowak told jurors of their conversation: "I say 'all the money I owe you, I give you. You can leave me alone and now you can get on with your life and I can get on with my life'."
When Nowak and Lagwinowicz were arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to a magistrates' court in a police car, a covert recording device was used to capture their conversation. Nowak was recorded saying in Polish to Lagwinowicz "I love you".
Polish nationals Nowak, of Willow Way, Chard, Lagwinowicz, of South Street, Taunton, and Dmytryszyn, of Holway Avenue, Taunton, deny murder. The trial was adjourned until Monday.
