Defendant was ‘distraught’

From the Wiltshire Times, first published Friday 27th Jan 2006.

CLARKE MURDER TRIAL: MICHAEL Clarke was shaking uncontrollably and crying hysterically when his neighbours found him crouched on their front doorstep.

Kenneth Nurdin told the jury on Tuesday he was woken up by frantic banging on his front door at 1.30am. He went downstairs to discover Clarke in what he described as a state of sheer panic.

Mr Nurdin said: "He was crouched down on the ground covering his head with his arms saying get an ambulance, call the police'. He was very distraught and it was hard to understand him.

"He was crying and shaking, I have never seen him like that before."

As he went next door to find out what had happened, his wife Tracy took Clarke into the house and got him a bowl after he told her he felt sick.

She said: "I asked him what was the matter. I think he said get an ambulance'. I said is it for you and he replied mum and dad'."

She said much of what he said was incoherent because he was crying so much.

"He mentioned no full sentences but I heard, blood on the sink. What am I going to do now? The microwave was going, why was it going, there was a glass of Ribena on the side'," she said.

Her daughter Natasha Dagger comforted Clarke in the kitchen and sat on the floor with her arm around him while Mrs Nurdin phoned the emergency services.

Miss Dagger told the court: "The tears were flowing down his cheeks and his whole body was shaking. He couldn't say a lot because he was so upset but kept asking is the ambulance here, what's taking so long'?"

Under cross-examination Neil Ford QC, defending Clarke, asked whether she had heard anything from the house next door on the morning of December 6 before she left to catch her bus at 9.15am.

She said: "No nothing. I usually have music on pretty loud so I wouldn't hear anything."

After the police arrived at the Nurdin's house Clarke was taken to Melksham police station where crime scene investigator James Tucker took photographs of him.

He said: "I was led to believe he had come directly from a rock concert wearing this clothing. What struck me was his cleanliness. Not only his body but particularly his boxer shorts."

He said it was unusual for someone to have spent up to 16 hours wearing the same underwear not to have any stains on them and described the underwear as not looking creased, as if they had been put on quite recently.

He added: "As I walked into the unit I was very close to Michael's shoulder and could smell no body odour or after shave. He was totally clean."

Mr Ford said walking closely to him was not a scientific test and pointed out Mr Tucker did not know Clarke and would therefore be unaware of his normal standards of cleanliness.

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