MURDER suspect Adam Whelehan used sex to “bait” Swanley knife victim Natalie Jarvis into meeting him on the night of her death, a court heard today.

Miss Jarvis was found dead on the ground in Swanley Village Road on October 3 last year after suffering more than 20 stab wounds.

Whelehan, 23, of Roseberry Gardens, Sidcup, today told jurors about a sexual encounter with Miss Jarvis on July 9 last year, after which she claimed she was pregnant.

Maidstone Crown Court heard this was the only time they had sex and that Whelehan then used the prospect of more sex to snare his victim.

Robert Acheson, prosecuting, said: “At 21.41 you text Natalie, 90 days since the time you first had sex that there was going to be a second sexual encounter.

“This is the first instance that you suggest there may be sex in order to get her to meet you.

“I am suggesting that was a trap to get her out to murder her in Button Street.”

Whelehan replied: “It was my intention to talk and f***.

“That was what she wanted. I thought if I said that we could talk and f*** then we could meet.”

But later in the hearing, when questioned if he had any intention of sex with Miss Jarvis on October 3, he said: “No, my plan was to meet up and talk.”

Mr Acheson said: “We have seen a number of texts in which you are talking in fantastical terms of killing Miss Jarvis as a joke.

“Was there conversation of that sort that night at the pub?”

Whelehan responded: “I don’t remember saying anything.”

The prosecution alleges Whelehan plotted with co-defendant Thomas Fuller to avert suspicion by booking holiday off work.

A text from Fuller to Whelehan in mid-September last year read: “They won’t suspect you for a possible murder if you book holiday.”

Whelehan replied: “Ha that’s true mate. But has to be booked so my holiday’s legit.”

Whelehan later told the court he feared Miss Jarvis was going to blackmail him with naked pictures but denied planning to kill her.

Mr Acheson later said months of text messages between Whelehan and Fuller revealed an “elaborate fantasy” with killing Miss Jarvis.

When Whelehan was asked if he felt any guilt about the “detailed plan” for Miss Jarvis’s death, he said “no”, adding the messages were just “banter” and “jokes”.

Whelehan said: “I was quite skint at the time. I had nothing else to do really.

“It was a way to escape from all this abuse and arguments.”

He added: ‘It’s detailed but it’s not serious.

“I wasn’t concerned because it wasn’t a plan. There was no plan to do it.

“It was never going to be a reality. I would never do that.”

The prosecution alleges Whelehan murdered her because he "wanted out of the relationship and the only way out he could see was to kill her".

Fuller, of Oakley Drive, Eltham, also 23, is accused of being the "getaway driver".

The court heard Whelehan picked up Miss Jarvis from her home with friend Fuller hiding in the boot of his car at around 10.30pm on October 3 last year.

It is claimed he drove to a country lane car park in Swanley Village before getting out with Miss Jarvis about 10.50pm and "by the time he returned to the car, then driven by Fuller, she lay dead".

Whelehan and Fuller deny murder.

The trial continues.