THE prosecution has rested its case against an Ellesmere Port teenager and her ex-fiance accused of murdering 49-year-old Chester debt collector Martin Ithell.

Michael Chambers QC told Liverpool Crown Court that Scott Davidson, 23, and Rachael Horton, 19, from Little Sutton, slipped from the fantasy world of the gangster rap music they both enjoyed to a world of armed robbery and homicide.

In his closing speech, he accused the pair, who both deny murder, of planning to kill Martin Ithell to whom they owed thousands of pounds, in an attempt to remove the obstacle to their future together.

Mr Ithell, from Boughton, Chester, would be lured to their house in Frodsham where Davidson would shoot him with a shot gun and Horton would use a kitchen knife in ‘finishing him off’.

He said: “Neither appear to have shown any concern for his (Martin Ithell) well-being once he’s been shot and stabbed, once he’s lying there in their hallway. It seems neither of them has shown any remorse since then. Why? Because they did what they intended to do.”

Mr Chambers said text messages between the pair revealed the thought processes going through their minds.

One from Horton to Davidson read: “We got each other’s back, Loo (her name for Davidson). Job all over and done with then we can start a family.”

He dismissed Davidson’s assertion that ‘job’ was a reference to an armed robbery at Hapsford services, near Chester, that the pair were planning.

But in his closing speech, Richard Pratt QC, for Davidson, dismissed the notion of a murder plan and asked the jury to consider the facts, not theories and speculation.

He challenged the prosecution’s claim the accused bought decorating equipment like plastic sheeting to cover any blood splashes.

He quoted text messages from Davidson’s other girlfriend, Francesca Whaling, who was expecting to move in with Davidson and made references to wallpaper and decorating.

He suggested Mr Ithell had a hand gun with him that fateful night on March 11 and his client had defended himself.

He claimed one or both of the two men who accompanied Mr Ithell as back-up had disposed of it afterwards.

Mr Pratt argued Davidson’s shotgun had gone off by accident because of the worn trigger mechanism confirmed by a prosecution expert. Even if Mr Ithell had not been armed, the jury must find him not guilty of murder because there had been no intention to kill or cause serious harm meaning a manslaughter verdict would be appropriate.

Finally, he noted his client had initially assumed responsibility for the stabbing in interviews with police to protect the woman he had loved but at the trial had realised the evidence made it impossible to maintain this position.

The trial continues.