A JILTED lover stalked his teenage ex-girlfriend before slitting her throat and torching her bedroom, a court heard.

Michael Lane became "obsessed" with Shana Grice after she decided to rekindle her relationship with former long-term boyfriend Ashley Cooke, Lewes Crown Court was told yesterday.

The mechanic, 27, had been warned by police to stay away from the 19-year-old, and even cautioned. But, angry over the split, he allegedly vowed she would "pay for what she's done."

He continued to follow her, made prank calls, attacked her in the street, fitted a tracker on her car and even stole a door key to sneak into her Portslade home while she was in bed, jurors were told.

Then on August 25 last year he "waited" for Mr Cooke and her housemates to leave the property in Chrisdory Road so she was alone before slitting her throat and setting fire to her bedroom.

Miss Grice's body was found motionless on her bed by Mr Cooke's father and aunt Debbie Kennard after she failed to turn up for work at Hove-based wholesaler Palmer and Harvey.

In the days after her death Lane allegedly hid trainers covered in her blood in a hedge.

High court judge Nicholas Green told the jury it was "common ground" Miss Grice was murdered. But Lane, of Thornhill Rise, Portslade, denies he had anything to do with the killing.

Miss Grice met Ashley Cooke when she was 16 and they had been dating since 2013. But she had an affair with Lane who she met in 2015 when they both worked at Brighton Fire Alarms, in Foredown Drive, Portslade, jurors heard.

She ended her relationship with Mr Cooke in April 2016 and shortly after she and Lane officially became an item.

But by August 23 their relationship had "deteriorated", and she told Lane she wanted to be with Mr Cooke again, the court heard.

Philip Bennetts, prosecuting, said Lane then became “obsessed” with her and there was "no other candidate" who could be responsible for her murder.

He said: “During their relationship he stalked her. He put a tracker on her car and followed her movements. That obsession with her translated into killing her. He would not allow anyone else to be with her."

A month before she was killed Lane told a friend his relationship with Miss Grice had not worked out and she had "gone back to her ex."

The pair stayed in contact throughout August and five days before she died he told the same friend: "She'll pay for what she's done," the court heard.

Two days before they met at the Langford Hotel in Third Avenue, Hove, where Lane had booked a room. Jurors were told how Lane claimed the pair had sex but Mr Bennetts said the purpose of that meeting was to agree the relationship was over.

Mr Bennetts said: “It is a matter for you whether that ending is what you consider the evidence that caused this defendant to kill Shana Grice.

"No doubt intending to destroy evidence of his presence in the house, he set fire to the room in which she was in. In fact the fire did not destroy the room.

"The evidence will demonstrate that you can be satisfied so that you're sure Michael Lane is guilty of murder."

The trial, expected to last up to four weeks, continues.

‘JILTED BOYFRIEND BECAME OBSESSIVE’

HIS love affair with Shana Grice saw Michael Lane become totally obsessed, jurors were told yesterday.

Lewes Crown Court heard police were called several times about his behaviour in the months leading up to her murder.

Giving evidence, her boyfriend Ashley Cooke told how he confronted him, once in a car when he spotted Lane following Miss Grice and when he found him lurking in an alleyway near her home in Chrisdory Road, Portslade.

He said: “He was just standing there. I asked what he was doing down here.” Lane replied: “I’m allowed to be down here,” Mr Cooke told the court.

He also said Miss Grice told him Lane was “a bit flirty” at work.

She reported Lane to police for stalking in February last year after her car had been damaged. He was told by officers to stay away from her.

Then Ashley Cooke’s car was damaged and a note left which said: “Dear Ash, Shana has always and always will cheat on you. Happy New Year.”

Mr Cooke’s father Ian said Miss Grice had repeatedly told him her tyres were let down outside her mother’s house – where she had been living at the time – and outside the Cooke home in Beeches Road, Portslade.

Aimee Cooke, Ashley’s sister, was also called as a witness and told how Miss Grice had turned up at their house after an incident with Lane and the police had been called.

Mr Cooke senior said Miss Grice told him Lane grabbed her phone and pulled her hair after a row.

The former Hove Park School student, her two housemates and Lane had gone to a party at the Mile Oak pub in Mile Oak Road on March 24. Miss Grice went home alone but later got into an argument when the girls arrived back at the house with Lane.

Mr Cooke said: “I was told she had run out of the house and Michael Lane pursued her.”

Then he pulled her phone away from her ear as she tried to call Ashley to meet her. A car with three people in stopped to help her when they saw the incident, he told the court.

Philip Bennetts, prosecuting, said: “Lane also stole a key from her back door in July when he went to get his belongings. In the early hours of the next morning Miss Grice heard noises and footsteps approaching her bedroom. She hid under her duvet and heard her door open and a man breathing. “He remained for about a minute before he left. When she was satisfied he had gone, Miss Grice got up, looked out her bedroom window and saw Lane walking away.”

Later that day Lane was arrested and he had the back door key on him, the court heard.

Mr Bennetts said: “He admitted in interview he had taken the key and had gone into her room, this is his account, to talk to her but upon entry realised it was wrong and left. He was cautioned.”

The next day, on July 10, Miss Grice reported receiving seven calls from a withheld number. Someone was breathing heavily but did not speak.

He also followed her driving in her car two days later, jurors were told.

Simon Russell Flint, defending, told the court Miss Grice had been handed a fixed penalty fine for “wasting police time”.

After her death police found a tracker attached to the front bumper of her car. Lane denied putting the tracker on the car but later agreed he had, Mr Bennetts told the court.

FAMILY WEEP AS DETAILS ARE READ OUT IN COURT

LOVED ones of Shana Grice cried as the details of her death emerged in court.

A packed public gallery listened as Aimee and Ian Cooke, the sister and father of Miss Grice’s boyfriend Ashley, took told how they found her body.

Ashley Cooke left Miss Grice’s home shortly after 7am on August 25 last year but raised the alarm when work colleagues said she had not turned up.

He called his sister to check on her. Philip Bennetts, prosecuting, said she “saw a bloody footprint on the doorstep” when she arrived.

She called her father who found her “distraught and crying” on the phone to the police and smoke coming from the house. He tried to get inside then found the front door was unlocked.

Two workmen tried to help and neighbours started to emerge from nearby homes. They went inside but there was too much smoke and they could not breathe. They found the bedroom door shut with a piece of cardboard wedged in the side. Mr Cooke went out for air by which time his sister-in-law Debbie Kennard had arrived. They went back in and “through hazy smoke” could see a body face down on the bed. Mr Bennetts said: “Sadly it was Shana. She was dead.”

A paramedic found red footprints leading to the bedroom and an examination of the fire suggested it wasstarted with an “ignitable liquid”, the court heard. Jurors were told Lane was captured on CCTV stopping at Sainsbury’s in Hove on August 24 at 5.38pm filling a petrol can with fuel.

A post mortem concluded Miss Grice died before the fire started. Her throat had been slit and she had a 10.5cm wound on her neck.