A trial has heard an argument started at a party after cocaine was allegedly used in a child’s bedroom by some of the partygoers.

Mother-of-three Michelle Cooper, 40, died following an incident in Beach Way, Jaywick, in the early hours of April 23 last year.

The fitness fanatic, who worked as a gym instructor in Sudbury, was left unconscious following the attack and was pronounced dead at Colchester Hospital two days later.

Richard Christie, defending for Nethercott, said cocaine was found in Michelle Cooper’s urine.

He asked witness Kelly Cooper whether the situation arose following an allegation that her family members had been snorting cocaine in a child’s room.

“We’re talking about weed and cocaine? My auntie is dead. She was beaten by men,” she replied.

“Everyone in that house was on cocaine and weed probably - there was no child in the house. The house was empty - they were moving out.”

Read more:

Miss Cooper said she had not been in the bedroom while cocaine was consumed and denied she was ejected from the party.

Bobby Nethercott, 31, of Park Square East, Jaywick; Demi Cole, 21, of Beach Way, Jaywick; Charlie Whittaker, 24, of Bemerton Gardens, Kirby Cross; and Jordan Stanley, 20, of Masterman Road, London, each deny a joint charge of murder.

Nethercott, Whittaker and Stanley also deny two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Nethercott denies two separate charges of assault causing actual bodily harm, while Cole has admitted assaulting Elise Cooper.