Missing student was found burnt and beaten in car boot

Janet Muller, 21, had gone missing the night before on March 13 last year from the Mill View mental health hospital in Hove.

Christopher Raymond Jeffrey-Shaw, 27, of no fixed abode, is accused of her murder.

Miss Muller, who is originally from Germany, had been studying at the University of Brighton.

Her murder trial at Guildford Crown Court heard she had been experiencing mental health problems last year and had been admitted to Mill View on March 3.

She had twice gone missing from the Nevill Avenue hospital on March 12, the last occasion at 10.15pm that evening.

Philip Bennetts QC, prosecuting told the jury she was last seen approaching an unidentified car in Kingsway, Hove, at 1.15am on March 13.

He said the car in which her charred body had been found had been hired by the defendant’s girlfriend while Jeffrey-Shaw and his son were present.

Mr Bennetts said: “Christopher Jeffrey-Shaw set fire to a car, in the boot of that car was Janet Muller. She had been beaten and put in the boot. She died in the fire.

“The defendant, having done that, ordered a taxi from a nearby hotel using a false name and returned to London where he lived.”

The Volkswagen Jetta was found in a lane off Rusper Road in Crawley on March 13.

The jury heard from witnesses who said they saw Jeffrey-Shaw walking calmly away from the burning car wearing a red England football shirt.

Mr Bennetts said there is no no evidence the defendant and Janet knew or associated with each other prior to her death.

He added that phone records and CCTV footage showed that the defendant’s phone and his car were in the Brighton area on the evening that Miss Muller disappeared.

He said that when Jeffrey-Shaw was arrested, he answered “no comment” during his interview by detectives but a statement of his defence position stated that he denied Miss Muller’s murder.

He said that the defendant denied the murder, saying that he had been ordered by drug dealers to burn the car and he had not known Miss Muller was in the boot at the time.

The family of Miss Muller, who was buried in Berlin last May, were in court.

The trial continues.

CHILLING ACCOUNT OF JANET’S LAST MOMENTS BEFORE DEATH

JANET Muller was last seen wandering the streets of Hove having gone missing from Mill View Hospital.

Less than 24 hours later, on March 13 last year, her body was found in the boot of a burnt-out Volkswagen Jetta.

On the morning of March 11, Christopher Raymond Jeffrey-Shaw, 27, of no fixed address, acquired the car after his girlfriend had hired it and handed him the keys, a jury was told yesterday.

At that point Janet was still a patient at Mill View, a mental health hospital, having been admitted on March 3.

On March 12 she managed to escape the unit on two occasions.

The 21-year-old was last seen in her room sometime between 10pm and 10.15pm that evening before she slipped out for a second time.

At 10.33pm she was spotted on CCTV walking outside Gregg’s in Boundary Road, Portslade.

Meanwhile, 34-and-a-half miles away, Jeffrey-Shaw sent a text asking a friend to find out who the director of Dulwich Estate is, the jury was told.

The car he had hired was picked up on cameras heading southbound on the M23 near Horley.

By 11pm, more texts had been sent between the defendant and his friend, this time the mobile phone was tracked to the M23 near Crawley, jurors were told.

A minute later, back in Portslade, CCTV images picked up a young woman matching Janet’s description walking down the street.

At 11.10pm, Jeffrey-Shaw’s phone was recorded as being near Hassocks and the hire car was picked up on the A23 southbound near Hurstpierpoint.

Two minutes later Jeffrey-Shaw sent two more texts, Philip Bennetts QC, prosecuting, said.

One of those was from near Pyecombe and the second from Brighton in the BN1 area, he added.

The court heard that by 11.19pm his car was in Preston Road, Brighton.

Five minutes later, CCTV on Boundary Road picked up Janet Muller who was seen to cross the road opposite the church.

Another five minutes pass before Jeffrey-Shaw sent three texts to his girlfriend – all from the Brighton area, the jury heard.

By 11.41pm Janet Muller is still in Boundary Road when across the city in Queen’s Road, the defendant sent a text to his girlfriend, Mr Bennetts QC said.

It read, “Can you find me an address for a harbour in Brighton, baby?”

As the clock strikes 12, he was at Brighton Marina and at ten past the hour CCTV showed Janet Muller walking past an off-licence, still in Boundary Road.

Another 15 minutes pass and Janet Muller is still on the same road, but this time she is running.

Four minutes earlier, Jeffrey-Shaw sent a text from the Kemp Town area, Mr Bennetts QC said. This is the last text he sends until the morning.

At 12.30am on March 13, the murder victim is seen stumbling along Boundary Road before.

Half an hour passes until she is picked up on CCTV in Kingsway, Hove and at 1.08am she walks in to the Texaco garage where she buys a drink.

Five minutes later she is seen heading east on Kingsway – the last time she is seen alive.

Another half an hour passes. The court was told the car is picked up on cameras once again, this time heading northbound on the A23 between then A27 and A273.

By 2.37am the car is on the M23 heading northbound .

Morning breaks and at 8.32am Jeffrey-Shaw makes a three-second call.

The jury hears that ten minutes later he texts his girlfriend – “Can you call me please, nothing urgent.”

By the afternoon the car is seen heading southbound once again and at 1.33pm it pulls up into a Tesco petrol station in Three Bridges.

Jeffrey-Shaw, wearing a red England football, picks up a petrol can, goes back on to the forecourt, fills the can and then returns to the kiosk and pays the cashier, Mr Bennetts QC said.

Less than an hour later, Julia Farmer, who lived yards away from the murder scene, finds Janet Muller’s body burning in the boot and dialled 999.

She told the court: “I was working in my garden which has quite a high hedge, other side has a track green-keepers department of the [Ifield] golf club.

“A car came up the track. It couldn’t get through and I noticed it was a grey saloon car.

“I knew the green-keepers had left for the day and was locked, I wondered if it was someone for me, so I waited for a bit.

“It’s used as a stop-in sometimes for people to have a cuddle.

“But he car reversed back after a few minutes, so I was slightly alerted by that.

“Then I saw a little smoke. I remember I had a bonfire and thought I’d put it out and saw flames from behind my garage in the area of where the car was.

“But the bonfire was also in that area.

“So I went out to see what was going on and realised it wasn’t anything to do with the bonfire and saw this grey car parked there.”

It was at this point she spotted a man walking away from the car.

She said: “Before I crossed the track to look behind the car, I saw a man walking down the track towards Rusper Road.

“I had the briefest glance at him because I didn’t want him to see me.

“He was moving surprisingly slowly and I wondered if he had anything to do with the fire because he wasn’t in a hurry.”

She added: “I go up towards the car and see the front of the car is blazing. The boot is closed at that point.

“There was fire coming from the front of the car, so I didn’t too close.”

What she saw next was horrifying.

“I heard nothing at all apart from the fire and the odd explosion,” she added.

“I then realised that the car was in quite good condition and scribbled down the number plate, but the fire was much more intense and the back of the car is still not alight.

“I saw the boot had blown open. It was closed the first time, open second time.

“I saw the body of a young person. I asked one of the firemen to ring the police because I said there was a body.”

It was then she saw the man again.

She added: “Again he wasn’t rushing and he was wearing this very obvious red shirt.”

“He was moving around and so I suggested the fireman if they had some dogs they could pick him up quite quickly.”

The fireman Julia Farmer was talking to was Steven Philips.

He said: “I instructed my team to put the breathing apparatus on, which takes some time, while myself and my driver moved the hose reels up to the car.

“I first saw the head of a body and an arm coming out [of the boot]. I smelt a very strong smell of petrol.

“I was to the rear of the vehicle about 10 feet away, something like that.”

One of the firefighters was Russell Lang.

He said: “Once rigged, we continued to extinguish the fire, I noticed fuel burning on the floor around the vehicle.

“The arm and a head of a badly burnt body were protruding out with the hand facing upwards.

“It was clear the casualty was deceased and we were dealing with a crime scene.”

Sussex Police officers were called in. Officer Andrew Sandford was one of the first at the scene, He told the court: “As we walked down the lane I could see a charred burnt body in the boot of the car.

“It was still smouldering and firemen were damping it down.

“I could see it was a serious crime scene, a possible murder.”

Meanwhile, at 2.53pm, Jeffrey-Shaw sent a text, the jury was told, placing him in an area between where the car was left burning and Waterhall Country House Hotel in Crawley, five miles from Gatwick.

Here, he asked Ann Marsh to book a taxi for him, the prosecution told the jury.

The hotelier told the jury: “I told him I couldn’t help him, but he opened his arms and said I have nothing on me.

“I went to make the call expecting him to wait outside but he followed me inside which made me feel uncomfortable.

“I asked him where he was going, and he said the airport. He gave his name as Robert.

“He told me a friend had dropped him off. He was muddy and looked as though he’d come through the fields.

“He was covered in wood shavings and black dirt.

“While he waited he appeared agitated and nervous and kept asking how long it would be.”

Norman Phelan, of United Cars, was the taxi driver.

He told the court: “He asked me how much it’d be to Bromley, I rang the office and I was told by the office it would be £55.

“He had no luggage or possessions and I told him that he’d have to pay up front. I was suspicious because he had no luggage.”

He added: “He said he had just come back from Turkey, which again I thought strange because he had no luggage.

“I stopped at some traffic lights at the A23. He handed me some change and I said to him, ‘You’re not going to Bromley then?’ “He asked me where are the nearest train stations - I told him Horley, Three Bridges, but Gatwick was the nearest.

“I arrived there [Gatwick] at 3.20pm.

“He opened the door and just seemed to wander off, I was just glad to get rid of him.”

Mr Bennetts QC told the jury Jeffrey-Shaw then got the train to London Victoria.

But at 4.21pm on March 13 Jeffrey-Shaw was seen on the Gatwick Express from London to Three Bridges, the court heard.

Seven minutes later he sent another text to his girlfriend, Mr Bennetts QC adds.

“My battery is about to die. But two crackheads have stolen the car. Call the police and tell them it’s been robbed.”

He gets six texts back.

He leaves it until 4.42pm before replying, the jury hears.

“They just attacked me from behind so I jumped out to open the doors to knock them out but they got in and locked the door.”

“All my stuff is in there, my clothes, my driver’s licence, my money, everything.”

By 5.44pm he’s at East Croydon Station and nine minutes later his debit card is used, the jury is told.

Four days later, after a manhunt and murder investigation was launched, Jeffrey-Shaw walked into Lewisham Police Station at 4.20pm.

The jury heard that he told an officer: “I’m not getting done for something I haven’ done.”

“The whole thing is a nightmare I haven’t woken up from.”

When interviewed, he answered nothing but “no comment”.

In a defence statement, he said he did not kill Janet Muller in that he did not know she was in the boot of the vehicle.

But he said that drug dealers he knew had borrowed the car from him.

When they returned it he claims he was told to burn it otherwise he would be shot. He claims he did not know Janet was in the boot.