AN alleged murder victim assaulted and threatened his former partner only a day before he was attacked.

A court heard, from John Smith’s ex, that he demanded to know the name of the man who answered her phone when he called.

He claimed the man was Laurence Wheatley – one of four people accused of murdering Mr Smith.

A jury at Chelmsford Crown Court heard Mr Smith’s former partner, Deanna McKee, was so worried about threats from him, she had called on Wheatley for help.

“He said he had CCTV, and I went to see if his CCTV would pick up my house as a precaution in case John came round,” Miss McKee told the court.

She was giving evidence in the trial of Wheatley and three others accused of murdering Mr Smith near his home in Broadway, Jaywick, in 2009.

Mr Smith was stabbed 11 times and thrown on to the bonnet of a moving car during the attack on July 11 last year.

Moments after landing on the ground, his attackers are alleged to have started punching and kicking him.

Mr Smith died two months later in hospital.

Miss McKee said she had ended a relationship with Mr Smith in the days before he was attacked, but he called her and made threats.

While she was at Laurence Wheatley’s home, Mr Smith tried calling her but she ignored it.

When it rang again later, a friend of Wheatley’s answered and told Mr Smith Miss McKee did not want to speak to him, the court heard.

Miss McKee eventually spoke to Mr Smith, and he persuaded her to visit his home so he could apologise for being rude to her.

She told the court: “He wanted to know who he had spoken to on the phone. He thought it was Laurence (Wheatley) and it did not matter how much I told him it wasn’t, he said it was.”

She tried to calm matters but things got worse and Mr Smith locked the doors so she could not leave, assaulted her and demanded to know who had been on the phone. He also made threats about Wheatley, Miss McKee claimed.

The trial has heard Wheatley went round to Mr Smith’s home to calm things down, but was hit by Mr Smith with what he thought was a pistol.

The prosecution has alleged Mr Smith was murdered in revenge.

Jason Bethell, 31, from Broadway, in Jaywick, Graham Wheatley, 42, of Golf Green Road, Jaywick, Laurence Wheatley, 45, of Sea Way, Jaywick, and Claire Saunders, 31, from Riley Avenue, Jaywick, all deny the murder charge.

Saunders denies another charge of assisting an offender.

She is alleged to have helped Laurence Wheatley leave the scene of the incident.

The trial continues.