BEFORE their relationship ended in murder, Jason Martin-Smith and his killer Mark Searle worked together to burgle a pawnbrokers.

They and two other men – Frank Torpey and Jimmy Millen – escaped with £36,000 from the Price Attack pawnbroker in Hampshire.

Mr Martin-Smith, who met Torpey through a drugs deal, had worked at the store for a short time and took with him a set of keys when he left, prosecutors said.

When he first got involved in the burglary plan, he believed he would only provide the keys, but was threatened into a bigger role, he told police.

And when police searched his girlfriend’s house following the burglary, that already apparently un-equal relationship escalated.

Mr Martin-Smith was arrested on July 10, 2001, following the search of his girlfriend’s home in Catsfield Close, Hastings.

At first, he kept some details hidden, but in his second police interview he identified other members of the burglary gang, the court heard.

Almost immediately, he feared for his safety.

“Jason told me that Jimmy was threatening him over the burglary as they thought Jason had grassed them up," a friend later said.

His fears seemed founded: Mr Torpey, Mr Millen and Searle learned that he had informed on them, jurors heard, and planned to take revenge, prosecutor said.

On August 2001, Martin-Smith was parked outside Wilmington Road, Hastings, visiting a friend.

He had a gun, prosecutor said, and was carrying a chisel in his trousers, afraid he might be attacked.

“Don’t worry,” he had said to an acquaintance. “It’s not for you, it’s for Jimmy.”

Steve McNicol made a phone-call to say, "he’s outside," jurors heard. Another witness heard him say, “You’d better get here quick, he’s going.”

Thought to be Searle, a man came running towards his car. Mr Millen was heard yelling, 'Jason'.

Mr Martin-Smith was beaten up and forced into the front passenger seat of a black car that pulled up alongside. “They have taken him off,” McNicol said.

The next-day, two men saw Searle, Mr Millen and a third man with an axe in a lock-up in Battle Road, Hastings, the court heard.

A witness said when he went into the lock-up he heard the sound of an axe hitting concrete and saw what he believed to be a torso on the floor.

Another witness said Searle, who was 21 at the time, appeared to have blood on his legs.

Mr Millen later told his brother that Mr Martin-Smith had been shot six times, possibly in the eye, and then strangled with fridge wire.

Two months after the attack on Mr Martin-Smith, Mr Millen was shot as he worked on his car in Tile Barn Road, Hastings, on October 24, 2011.

A passenger on a black motorbike fired shots from a handgun at him. He staggered into Carpenter Drive, where he collapsed and later died.

The bike drove off from Tile Barn Road and past the junction of Lancaster Road, towards toward the Castleham Industrial Estate.

It was during the investigation into his death that police uncovered information about Mr Martin-Smith's abduction and murder.

They first arrested Mark Searle on January 9, 2002. He remained silent during three interviews. He was released without charge. Ten years later, police started re-investigating the case, and more witnesses came forward. He was re-arrested in 2015, again making no comment.

Steven McNicol was also arrested in 2001. He told police that he thought the others would assault Mr Martin-Smith, but not kill him. Mr Millen had told him they 'Just wanted to get hold of him,' he recalled.

Mr Martin-Smith told police he only ever received £25 from the burglary - petrol money.

Mr Millen's killing has yet to be solved.