A man out for his morning walk was confronted by the body of a young woman floating in a river.

A murder trial jury heard yesterday how James Jarrett thought he saw a female tailor's dummy just under the surface of the River Colne in Colchester.

It turned out to be the body of mother of two Helen Maughan, who had failed to return home two nights before.

Two teenagers, aged 14 and 17, who cannot be named because of their age, deny murdering Miss Maughan, 24, of Propelair Way, Colchester, between May 17 and May 20 last year.

"I saw a white shape in the water," Mr Jarrett told police later. "At first glance I did not know what it was. It looked like the bottom and legs of a female mannequin."

Chelmsford Crown Court heard how Mr Jarrett told officers it crossed his mind it might have been a body as he had heard something about a body in the Suffolk murders case looking like a dummy after it was discovered in water.

In a statement read out in court, Mr Jarrett said he got "in a panic" and ran from the scene near the Informa building, which backs on to the river, to the police station.

Police divers later recovered the body of Miss Maughan from the river. She was naked from the waist down apart from a sock on her right foot.

Yesterday, jurors visited the site where the body was found.

The prosecution has alleged the two teenagers murdered Miss Maughan two days before her body was discovered in the river in May last year.

The jury of six men and six women have been told the teenagers have blamed each other for the alleged murder of the mother of two.

Earlier, the trial heard Miss Maughan's partner Simon Elam had asked her to go out on the Friday she was allegedly murdered, as he wanted to lay a new carpet in the hallway of their flat.

They spoke and exchanged texts during the day and Mr Elam said it was clear Helen was in a pub when she spoke to him.

Later on, in a call at 9.44pm, she sounded quite drunk and 45 minutes later, she called him asking him if he wanted to join her for a drink in the Marquis of Granby.

In a statement, Mr Elam said he asked when the pub shut and she said 11pm, and he replied it was not really worth it if the place shut then.

The jury heard Miss Maughan told him: "OK, I'll call you when I'm coming back."

This was the last time he ever spoke to her.

  • The trial continues.