Lucy McHugh (pictured) died after being stabbed and slashed 27 times. Stephen Nicholson, 25, who was a lodger at her home, is on trial for her murder
Schoolgirl Lucy McHugh told a friend she was in love with the 25-year-old lodger who started slapping her weeks before her murder – but was told to ‘get back to your fantasy land’ when she told her mother of the affair, a court heard today.
Carer Stephen Nicholson, of no fixed address, is accused of repeatedly stabbing the 13-year-old to the neck and upper body at Southampton Sports Centre in July last year, and leaving her to die.
The school friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told Winchester Crown Court Lucy had confided in her that the defendant was becoming increasingly violent towards her including slapping her and trying to force his way into her bedroom.
The trial has heard that Nicholson was a lodger in the house Lucy shared with her mother, Stacey White, and her stepfather, Richard Elmes, and the defendant had exploited the ‘vulnerable’ teenager for more than a year.
The friend said Lucy told her that Nicholson was her boyfriend in October 2017, when she was aged 12.
The girl said in a police interview shown to the court: ‘She started telling me she was with a 24/23-year-old called Stephen.
‘I asked if them two had done anything because I was really worried. She told me he took her virginity but when she told me she looked uncomfortable and scared.’
The girl said she told her mother, who contacted Ms White, who rejected the claims as ‘fantasies’ and said they had already been looked into by social services.
Stacey White, mother of Lucy McHugh, arrives at Winchester Crown Court on June 20. Today the court heard that she had told Lucy to ‘get out of her fantasy land’ when she confided in her about the abuse
Lucy’s stepfather Richard Elmes (left, pictured yesterday), 22, said Lucy had created a lie about Nicholson (right)
The friend said Lucy described the situation with Nicholson as getting worse in the following months and that she was being treated badly by her mother and her partner.
She said Nicholson was becoming increasingly violent including attempting to force his way into her bedroom.
The girl said: ‘Two weeks before she died she told me that Stephen was slapping her and getting more and more worse.
‘She said she did but Stacey told her to shut up and to get out of her fantasy land as it would ruin someone’s life.
‘Then a week before she died, Lucy told me Stephen got really drunk and high and tried to get into her room, to the point she had to put her bed in front of the door. ‘When I asked if she had told Stacey, she said ‘don’t be silly, she won’t believe me’.’
She added that Lucy told her: ‘His weed-smoking was getting worse, he was trying to touch her, ‘He’s getting violent, he’s slapping me’.’
The girl said Nicholson became possessive over another boyfriend Lucy had and added that the defendant said ‘he would try to bash his head in’.
Stephen Nicholson, 25, is accused of murdering schoolgirl Lucy McHugh last year
She said she advised Lucy to move out of the house to live with her grandparents.
‘She kept on saying she wanted to but she couldn’t. She kept telling me not to worry and she would sort it but I kept worrying about her because she kept not looking right and not acting like she used to.’
The 25-year-old defendant is charged with Lucy’s murder as well as three counts of rape when she was 12.
During the hours after the attack, Nicholson is then alleged to have started using a new mobile phone and hid his old one, reset his Facebook password and lit a bonfire to destroy the trainers he was wearing.
Lucy’s was found dead by a dog walker the morning after she went missing and had confided in a friend that Nicholson’s abuse had gotten worse and that he was drinking more
He is accused of also dumping a hoodie and trousers that were covered in Lucy’s blood in a small stream while cycling home from the sports centre.
He also faces two charges of sexual activity with a child on multiple occasions when she was 13.
He is also charged with sexual activity with a child in relation to another girl aged 14, dated June 29 2012.
Nicholson denies the charges and the trial continues.
Nicholson denies murdering Lucy and is on trial at Winchester Crown Court (pictured above)
Police officers speak to neighbours as they search the family home in Southampton last year
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