Mother of Samantha Murphy tells court that accused murderer would 'lovebomb' her in public

The mother of a woman who was killed in Portsmouth says the man accused of murdering her would “lovebomb” her while they were out in public.

Charlie Jeans is on trial for the murder of Samantha Murphy. The 32-year-old’s body was found at a property in Wadham Road, North End, in the early hours of June 5 last year.

Jeans, 30 from Margate Road, Southsea, denies the offence.

This afternoon (Wednesday, June 11), a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court was read a statement from Samantha’s mother, Denise Calver. Her statement was given to police after Samantha’s body was found.

In her statement, Denise told officers that she “didn’t like” Jeans - and had told her daughter as much.

She said: “On June 5, we both texted each other good morning - I knew she would be going out with Charlie, as it was a Wednesday. I didn’t really have any concerns for Sammie, they had been together for about a year.

“Sammi was always very secretive about Charlie. I made it very clear to her that I didn’t like him; I thought he was a sponger.

“I never saw him treat her badly, I never saw bruises and she never said anything. He would treat her like a princess in public, but was over the top. He lovebombed her.”

Denise also told the court that she and Samantha had set up accounts on Life360 - an app that lets others know your location - but her daughter had later deleted her from her ‘circle’ and added Jeans instead.

The pair were “excited to be getting married” after getting engaged a few months after they started dating, she added.

Prosecuting, Joanna Martin KC showed the jury footage from a Ring doorbell camera, showing Jeans and Samantha leaving her home at around 4.30pm on Wednesday, June 4 last year. CCTV footage showed them arriving at the Fountain Inn pub in London Road, North End, shortly after.

Between them, the couple spent more than £115 at the pub that afternoon, with another eyewitness describing them as “a bit boozy” when they left in the evening. Their engagement party was scheduled to be held at that same venue at the end of the month.

The pair returned to her home at 11.40pm that evening, with her doorbell camera picking up Jeans saying “get the f*** off me now” and pushing Samantha away. Both of them were also confirmed to have arrived at her house via the Life360 app.

Her phone’s last activity was at 0.08am on June 5, when her Beats Solo earbuds were disconnected. Spotify was opened and closed 20 minutes earlier.

Sat in the dock, Jeans looked down towards his feet as evidence was read out in court.

Proceeding