Murder accused Michael Lane: ‘I’m not the man on CCTV images’

Michael Lane wore a baseball cap, hoodie and high-vis jacket to withdraw £60 from a cash machine using Shana Grice’s card on the day she died, Lewes Crown Court was told.

He wanted to reclaim money they had spent together, it was alleged.

But the 27-year-old, who denies murder, said he did not know her PIN number and also dismissed claims from prosecutor Philip Bennetts that he was caught on CCTV on August 25 last year dressed in disguise, having killed her.

He also refuted that he was seen on CCTV holding what appeared to be a baseball cap and high-vis jacket.

The 19-year-old former Hove Park student’s body had been found that morning in Chrisdory Road, Portslade. Her throat was slit and her room had been set alight.

The court was shown CCTV of a man wearing the described clothes walking in Portslade and then at a cash point where it is said he accessed Miss Grice’s bank account using her PIN number.

Addressing Lane, Mr Bennetts asked: “Take this opportunity. You killed her didn’t you?” Lane replied: “No.”

Mr Bennetts asked: “Do you agree it’s likely the person on CCTV drawing out money from her account killed her?” Lane replied: “It looks likely.”

Mr Bennetts said: “It was you in that disguise that day. The purpose of that outfit was to disguise your identity.” Lane denied this.

Mr Bennetts suggested the trainers and shorts the man in the image was wearing were like those Lane had described himself wearing on the day of her death. Lane conceded it was possible they were similar but denied they were the same.

Lane, of Thornhill Rise, Portslade, repeatedly denied plotting to murder Miss Grice when questioned in court yesterday.

The jury heard how he had asked her for money back for items he had bought while they were together, including fuel for a trip to London and half the cost of a professional photo they had taken while out sightseeing.

Yesterday morning Lane denied ever using Miss Grice’s bank card or knowing her PIN number. In the afternoon he was recalled to the stand to add: “I had to use her card while we were going out. I would’ve had to use [the PIN number]. I had used it before but I did not know it on August 25.”

Mr Bennetts asked: “You didn’t volunteer that during your evidence until now.” Lane responded: “No.”

Mr Bennetts said: “You were asked the question by your own barrister. So on August 25 you had no idea what her PIN number was?” Lane responded: “No.”

The trial continues.

‘I WENT ROUND TO TELL HER NOT TO SPEAK TO ME AGAIN’

MURDER accused Michael Lane was yesterday questioned on all aspects of his movements on the day Shana Grice died.

The mechanic said he went to his ex-girlfriend’s house on the morning she was killed to “make sure” she did not speak to him again, Lewes Crown Court heard.

He said he and Miss Grice had agreed on August 23 last year to go their separate ways once and for all.

The pair had an affair after meeting through work at Portslade-based Brighton Fire Alarms before beginning a short-lived relationship in the months leading up to her death. During their last liaison, they mutually agreed to part ways, Lane said.

When asked why he went to her house two days later – the day of her death – he said: “To go and speak to her to make sure she didn’t talk to me again.”

His response prompted sighs from the packed public gallery.

During cross examination, prosecutor Philip Bennetts asked: “You had agreed [not to see each other], you had parted on good terms. Why did you go to her house?” Lane said: “I didn’t want us to be in contact again.”

Mr Bennetts also asked Lane if he had been stalking Miss Grice. He said: “I suppose so, yes.”

But he told jurors he never followed her and had only installed a tracker on her car to “see where she was”.

Lane said he found her body in her room but did not tell anyone because he feared he would be blamed.

He admitted hiding Lonsdale trainers covered in her blood in a field near New Barn Farm after previously denying this when questioned by detectives.

He said he dumped them in the days after he was arrested on suspicion of her murder because he “panicked”.

The trial previously heard the evidence of police officer Louise Sparks, who said that at 1.30pm on August 30 she spotted Lane running along Thornhill Rise, where he lived, into Fox Way with white trainers in his hand. She saw him run into a field filled with waist-high rye and followed him.

Around 15 minutes later Lorraine Ball, who was house sitting for friends nearby, spotted someone she identified as Lane standing on the track leading to the property, the court heard.

The following day at around 2.40pm, officers found a pair of white Lonsdale trainers in a hedge on a nearby path.

Lane was arrested again and when interviewed he told police that while he was at New Barn Farm his mother had been calling him.

He thought it was to tell him that she had received a phone call from The Argus, he told the court.

Yesterday he said he had hidden the trainers and went back to move them because he knew they had blood on them. He previously said he had discovered her after going to see her but fled the scene because he feared he would be blamed.

He said: “I was going to take them back to mum and talk to mum about them, about what to do with them and how to hand them in.”

But then he saw the car and “hid them in a bush”.

Then he recognised a policeman who had taken him into custody, so called his mum and asked her to pick him up and never told her about the trainers, he said.

When asked why he didn’t tell police where the trainers were he said he “knew” they would find them.

Police searched his house but never found the T-shirt and shorts he was wearing that day so Mr Bennetts asked if he had destroyed them. He said they had been in his house but could not account for why police did not find them.

Mr Bennetts also accused Lane of “choosing” the time he told police he had left the house after Miss Grice had been killed so he had an alibi.

Lane replied: “No I didn’t know she had been killed.” He responded: “Of course you did, you had seen her.” Lane said: “Yes but I didn’t know what time.”

LANE ‘DEMANDED CASH’

MICHAEL Lane demanded Shana Grice pay him back for fuel and gifts he bought when they were together, the court heard yesterday. 

Jurors were previously told how at the beginning of August last year, after the pair had split up, Lane wrote to Miss Grice demanding money for gifts that he had bought for her and other items. 

Giving evidence on the stand earlier in the trial at Lewes Crown Court, Miss Grice’s housemate Emma King said the letter asked for at least a “couple of hundred pounds” back.

She said it was for what she called “silly things like car park tickets and meals they’d had together” as well as perfume he bought for her from the airport when he went on holiday. 

The list was read out in court yesterday when the prosecution claimed Lane took Miss Grice’s bank card and reimbursed himself after killing her.

It included a £30 dress from Forever 21, the cost of a professional photo taken of the pair at the London Eye, £30 for fuel to London and £120 for duty free. 

Lane told jurors he had bought the dress for Miss Grice when they had gone to London because she did not have the money.

He said the money for the photo was half of the amount and what they had “agreed” they would each pay.

He said he had not asked for money back for costs like the hotel he booked while they had visited the capital together.

The prosecution accused Lane of stealing her bankcard and drawing out money using her PIN.

They claim he used a disguise so not to be picked up on CCTV.

Lane denied the accusation when cross examined in court yesterday.

Addressing Lane, Mr Bennetts said: “You killed her because you couldn’t have her, that’s the truth isn’t it.”

Lane replied: “Nope.”

Lane agreed he had “repeatedly lied” since speaking to police officers but said he did not “refuse” to tell the truth.

The prosecution and defence have now presented their cases and the judge will sum up today.