Murder accused admits sexual relationship with alleged victim

Tuesday 12 March 2019

A man accused of murder first denied having a sexual relationship with his alleged victim to Police, before later admitting that the pair were lovers, the Royal Court has heard.

The admission came as the jury hearing the trial of Jamie Lee Warn were yesterday told more details about his relationship with his former colleague, Zsuzsanna Besenyei, who he is accused of killing, with Mr Warn admitting that they had “been sexual with each other.”

Mr Warn denies the charge of murder and two counts of perverting the course of justice relating to an allegation that he lied to Police during their investigation of Miss Besenyei’s death and disappearance.

Despite saying in his first statement that the extent of his sexual relationship with 37-year-old Hungarian national was receiving explicit pictures from her, a subsequent statement made on 23 May to Detective Caroline Foord saw Mr Warn admitting he engaged in “oral sex” with Miss Besenyei more than once when they worked together at Les Charrières Hotel.

Pictured: Text messages between Jamie Lee Warn and his alleged murder victim showed the pair exchanging 'love yous' in the days before she disappeared.

The development came after the jury were given a presentation from a Crime Analyst detailing text messages sent between the pair showing that they exchanged ‘love yous’ on the day before the prosecution say Miss Besenyei was killed by Mr Warn.

On the sixth day of Mr Warn’s trial, the Court heard from DC Foord who took a second statement from the defendant to establish his whereabouts on the days surrounding Miss Besenyei’s death and disappearance (10-14 May 2018). 

The prosecution claim that it is during these few days last year that Mr Warn killed his ‘lover’ before hiding her in the boot of her car for three days and dumping her body on a beach at low tide. 

This statement was read to the Court by Crown Advocate Simon Thomas – co-counsel for the prosecution alongside Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit. 

Pictured: Mr Warn's second Police statement was read to the Court by the prosecution.

In this statement, Mr Warn recounted his movements on the days in May last year for the Detective Constable, recalling that he saw Miss Besenyei for “about half an hour” on 10 May when she visited his girlfriend’s flat.

Over the four days in question, Mr Warn told the Police Officer that he was spending time at his girlfriend’s house, going to work, drinking at the Earl Grey pub, visiting his mother, and running errands in town before he found out that Miss Besenyei had been reported missing on the Monday 14 May. 

Noting that he’d previously said there was “nothing sexual” about his relationship with Miss Besenyei, Mr Warn explained: “We never had full sexual intercourse, but we have been sexual with each other.”

The defendant added that this activity would “usually take place at mine or in the car,” and it “just seemed to be her [Miss Besenyei’s] way of getting attention.” 

His statement continues: “Zsuzsanna would want oral sex and would always ask me for this. After a couple of weeks of this she’d say she wanted to have sex.”

Pictured: The trial is due to continue in the Royal Court until the end of this week.

Answering questions from Crown Advocate Thomas, DC Foord said that based on Mr Warn’s first statement to Police, her “understanding was they had a friendship; it was platonic.” 

When asked whether Mr Warn offered any explanation as to why he did not disclose his sexual relationship with Miss Besenyei in the earlier statement, DC Foord replied that “he stated that he was in a relationship with his girlfriend” and that “he didn’t want his girlfriend to be aware of what he was doing with Zsuzsanna.”

During cross-examination from Defence Advocate James Bell, DC Foord confirmed that the defendant became a suspect based on what he said in his statement and not due to the post-mortem carried out by Dr Russell Delaney or because anything suggesting a crime scene was found at his home address. 

In the trial’s first week, the jury have heard from Miss Besenyei’s ex-boyfriend who tried to rekindle their relationship in the week before she disappeared; the CSI who analysed Miss Besenyei’s abandoned car and the defendant’s home address and a Pathologist who found the 37-year-old had suffered a neck fracture consistent with “direct pressure” being applied to the throat in the days before her death. 

The prosecution is due to finish their case today, at which point the jury will hear from defence witnesses.

The trial continues.